"DoN. Nichols" wrote in
:

And how many machines still can read the punched cards today?
They were being phased out of computer centers twenty or more years
ago.

Same problem with a lot of tape formats.



10 years ago (or thereabouts) a meeting was held at our data center to
discuss matters dealing with a lawsuit being brought by one of the
Unions.

It was explained to the plaintif's lawyer that we had changed computer
systems during the period between the time of the meeting and the time
that the litigation was concerned with and that we had no way to read -
much less reload - the programming and data that they sought although
the System Save tapes were still in storage as mandated by state law.

Frustrated, the plaintif's lawyer asked why we still preserved the tapes
even though our current system couldn't use them. My response was "The
Law says that we have to keep them but doesn't say that we have to be
able to read them."

The defense's lawyer cracked up and the plaintif's lawyer stormed out.
grin