#legacy-systems
59 episodes · Page 2 of 3
#3791: Who Still Runs Windows Server in 2026?
Windows Server still holds 32% of x86 server shipments. Here's where it's the rational choice.
#3543: Why Laws Are Written Like Palimpsests
Why do laws get amended instead of rewritten? And which countries actually make laws readable?
#3538: Car Manuals Are 700 Pages: Find Your 20
Your VIN isn't enough. PR codes and engine codes are the real keys to finding the right manual for your exact car.
#3471: What OS Actually Runs Inside a Siemens PLC?
Siemens, Rockwell, Beckhoff — the OS choices inside modern PLCs are more varied than you'd expect.
#3231: Hand-Painted Signs: The Lost Art of Enamel and Ruling Pens
Why enamel paint and ruling pens dominated sign painting for a century—and where to find them today.
#3155: What Happens When You Default on a Mortgage
The slow, procedural reality of losing your house — from missed payments to the sheriff at the door.
#3149: Who Actually Decides to Prosecute?
The King’s name is on every indictment, but he’s never asked. So who really decides who gets charged?
#3128: The Real Job of a Policy Wonk
What does a policy wonk actually do? It's not just a put-down — it's a real, high-impact job.
#3101: The Hidden Craft of Custom Picture Framing
What actually happens inside a $400 frame — and why cheap frames can destroy your art in years.
#2506: Squashing Database Migrations Without Breaking Production
How to safely squash old migrations, cut deploy times, and generate schema documentation at version boundaries.
#2446: Why Airport Flight Displays Still Run Windows XP
The surprising tech stack behind airport departure boards, Times Square screens, and the Windows XP systems still running them.
#2336: How ADRs Solve AI's Institutional Memory Problem
Architectural Decision Records (ADRs) aren’t just documentation—they’re a way to give AI coding assistants the context they lack.
#2286: Why Israel and Japan Still Love Fax Machines
How do tech giants like Israel and Japan still rely on fax machines and hanko stamps? Dive into the surprising reasons behind this paradox.
#2105: The Hidden 2006 Inflection Point of ERP
Before cloud and AI, ERPs were the unglamorous engines running global business. Here's how they worked in 2006.
#2012: Pixels vs Protocols: The Computer Use Showdown
Is visual AI a bridge or the future? We debate the efficiency and longevity of "Computer Use" agents versus API-first automation.
#1963: RPA: Dead or Just Getting Smart?
Traditional RPA is brittle and blind. See how AI vision and agentic orchestration are turning it into a self-healing powerhouse.
#1895: Why QVC Thrives in the Age of Amazon
Forget the death of TV shopping. QVC and catalogs are a $12B powerhouse. Discover why seniors and millennials are choosing phone calls over clicks.
#1415: Radioactive Legacy: Maintaining the Aging Nuclear Triad
With the New START treaty expired, how does the US ensure its 70-year-old nuclear warheads still work without ever testing them?
#1374: Why Your Boarding Pass Sometimes Takes 5 Seconds to Print
Your boarding pass is a digital handshake between airlines and governments. Discover why that handshake sometimes fails at the gate.
#1237: Ghost Flights and Legacy Code: Why Travel Tech is Broken
Ever wondered why that flight vanished while booking? Explore the 1960s mainframes and cryptic protocols holding the travel industry together.
#1228: The $30 Billion Blog Post: Can AI Finally Kill COBOL?
A single blog post wiped $30 billion off IBM’s value. Discover why the world’s oldest code still runs our banks and if AI can finally replace it.
#1222: The Compiler as Truth Machine
Discover how AI agents and the Rust "truth machine" are transforming legacy code into high-performance, memory-safe infrastructure.
#1177: The Race Against the Digital Dark Age
As vintage hardware goes extinct, archivists race to save film and tape from a "Digital Dark Age." Discover the engineering behind preservation.
#1052: Coding the Cosmos: The Hebrew Calendar vs. Unix Epoch
Discover why the Unix Epoch fails when it meets the Hebrew calendar and how developers solve the "Sunset Problem" in modern software.