It’s in old OS that we do the best devs. A somewhat unusual job offer emerged on the web recently and targets those who have put their hands in DOS, the ancestor of Windows.
If you are looking for a job across the Rhine and you have a fairly in-depth knowledge of 40-year-old operating systems, then Randstad has good news for you. The company specializing in temporary employment is looking for a developer to manage the control screens in the driver’s cabins of German trains. Small subtlety, these seem to run on MS-DOS, a 40 year old OS.
166 MHz and 8 MB of RAM
You read correctly, it seems that Deutsche Bahn (Germany’s public railway company) uses Microsoft’s antediluvian system. As a reminder, MS-DOS is an all-command line OS invented by the Redmond company in 1981 and abandoned by the company for more than 20 years now.
However, as the announcement specifies, affinities with “older operating systems (especially MS-DOS)» are a plus. If the candidate also has some knowledge of Windows 3.1 (an OS released in 1992), then that’s wonderful. And if this rare gem hasn’t retired yet, that’s even better.
According to comments posted on the Hacker News forum, ICE 1 and 2 trains (the equivalent of our TGVs across the Rhine) still use these systems and intend to do so until at least 2029. Some screens would a priori run with a 166 MHz processor and 8 MB of RAM, not even a hundredth of the power offered by any current low-end smartphone.
Old OS, a guarantee of stability?
To be very precise, it seems that the advertisement is not for an internal position at Deutsche Bahn, but more probably at Siemens, which therefore deals with on-board systems on trains. Knowledge of Sibas, the Siemens railway management system, is indeed required.
While this kind of announcement may make you smile, it’s not so extraordinary for a transport company to rely on old tools as long as they work. Boeing recently made headlines for its use of floppy disks to update software on its planes. Even the US Army used this support (and the old machines that go with it) until 2019.
Strangely, the announcement posted by Randstad on January 26 has already been taken offline. We hope that the company found the right profile and was able to print money to reward the experience that comes with this type of position.
Source : Tom’s Hardware
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