Deutsche Bahn is looking for Win 3.11 admin (opens in new tab)

(t3n.de)

61 pointsmngnt2y ago31 comments

31 comments

Previous discussions:

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39168469

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39160956

And it's not Deutsche Bahn but Siemens Mobility: https://www.heise.de/news/Deutsche-Bahn-sucht-Admin-fuer-Win... (in German)

turing_complete2y ago

The article states it's either Deutsche Bahn or Siemens.

PeterStuer2y ago

This is probably for working on Siemens' Sibas 32 family of products. This ia a large product range for their rail portfolio. You're not going to change the break control driver system on a high speed train unless absolutely required. The oldest OS that qualifies for interacting with these systems seems to be Windows 3.11, so it seems knowledge of such a system would be part of the requirements of a field engineer, just like knowledge of first aid is a requirement even though in theory you are only going to touch a keyboard, but interfacing with high-power electrical systems can have serious physical consequences.

For a taste you can read through https://www.scribd.com/document/442402647/5A-Monitor-prog-Si...

mschuster912y ago

> The oldest OS that qualifies for interacting with these systems seems to be Windows 3.11, so it seems knowledge of such a system would be part of the requirements of a field engineer

Working with it, yes. Developing for it? Completely different game, as you'll have almost zero chance to use anything modern, and that includes the tooling.

logifail2y ago

> you'll have almost zero chance to use anything modern

If you're developing for an embedded system, you may not want to use anything "modern".

flohofwoe2y ago

People are building Amiga applications as well as games and scene demos for much older 8-bit home computers with modern development tools. Even if Windows 3.1 doesn't quite have the same enthusiast following I would expect that it's possible with a bit of reverse engineering and tinkering (especially since Win3.1 is still quite small and simple).

TL;DR: I wouldn't be surprised if it's harder to support Win8 today than Win3.1 ;)

1 more reply

sho_hn2y ago

A lone position, or do they have a Workgroup?

smitty1e2y ago

"I see what you did there," said Bob.

sho_hn2y ago

Hi Bob! It's Rover.

1 more reply

ant6n2y ago

This article is just copy-pasted (stolen) from this blog entry, which also contains more of the original posting:

https://stadt-bremerhaven.de/bahn-administrator-fuer-windows...

jll292y ago

shame!

lqet2y ago

After 30 years or privatization, Deutsche Bahn might be broken beyond repair.

> "Deutsche Bahn is unable to cope with the simplest tasks of daily rail operations,” says a senior European railway official [0]

In this case, however, I think they are doing the right thing in keeping software that has been working reliably for over 30 years.

[0] https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/deutsche-bahn-str...

consp2y ago

> After 30 years or privatization, Deutsche Bahn might be broken beyond repair.

Well, it's cheaper than state run. And that comes at a cost.

zilti2y ago

It's still state-run, and 90% of the reason why Deutsche Bahn AG is in such a sorry state is the German government. Want to see privatization done right? Look no further than Germany's southern neighbour.

5 more replies

redeeman2y ago

and that cost is cheaper. Both provides crappy services, one just does it cheaper.

wslh2y ago

It is a good recommendation to follow the "if it works don't touch it" motto, but it is also true that they have time and resources (you don't need that much!) to port this to a modern platform and perform all the QA activities that you need to be 99% sure everything works as expected.

Through one of my companies we were/are involved in many of these efforts (e.g. application virtualization) and the use of legacy software [1]. Win 3.11 is a relatively easy target. Much much easier than other projects we dealt with.

[1] https://blog.nektra.com/2014/02/12/nektra-escalation-support...

incrudible2y ago

The problem with modern platforms is that they remove many constraints that kept complexity at bay. Combined with a large bureaucratic organization that is state owned and financed, Parkinson's law is going to hit very hard.

miyuru2y ago

Are there any trains that runs on k8s?

zyx3212y ago

Nope, they're all running on Rails.

1 more reply

Traubenfuchs2y ago

Hi, I was deeply involved in DBs Vendo project which completely replaced/renewed most of it's sales / customer-facing related backends and we were using Open Shift.

5/6 years ago... Everything could have changed again by now.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

31 comments

lars_francke2y ago

Previous discussions:

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39168469

- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39160956

nwellnhof2y ago

And it's not Deutsche Bahn but Siemens Mobility: https://www.heise.de/news/Deutsche-Bahn-sucht-Admin-fuer-Win... (in German)

turing_complete2y ago

The article states it's either Deutsche Bahn or Siemens.

PeterStuer2y ago

For a taste you can read through https://www.scribd.com/document/442402647/5A-Monitor-prog-Si...

mschuster912y ago

> The oldest OS that qualifies for interacting with these systems seems to be Windows 3.11, so it seems knowledge of such a system would be part of the requirements of a field engineer

Working with it, yes. Developing for it? Completely different game, as you'll have almost zero chance to use anything modern, and that includes the tooling.

logifail2y ago

> you'll have almost zero chance to use anything modern

If you're developing for an embedded system, you may not want to use anything "modern".

flohofwoe2y ago

TL;DR: I wouldn't be surprised if it's harder to support Win8 today than Win3.1 ;)

1 more reply

sho_hn2y ago

A lone position, or do they have a Workgroup?

smitty1e2y ago

"I see what you did there," said Bob.

sho_hn2y ago

Hi Bob! It's Rover.

1 more reply

ant6n2y ago

This article is just copy-pasted (stolen) from this blog entry, which also contains more of the original posting:

https://stadt-bremerhaven.de/bahn-administrator-fuer-windows...

jll292y ago

shame!

lqet2y ago

After 30 years or privatization, Deutsche Bahn might be broken beyond repair.

> "Deutsche Bahn is unable to cope with the simplest tasks of daily rail operations,” says a senior European railway official [0]

In this case, however, I think they are doing the right thing in keeping software that has been working reliably for over 30 years.

[0] https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/deutsche-bahn-str...

consp2y ago

> After 30 years or privatization, Deutsche Bahn might be broken beyond repair.

Well, it's cheaper than state run. And that comes at a cost.

zilti2y ago

5 more replies

redeeman2y ago

and that cost is cheaper. Both provides crappy services, one just does it cheaper.

wslh2y ago

[1] https://blog.nektra.com/2014/02/12/nektra-escalation-support...

incrudible2y ago

miyuru2y ago

Are there any trains that runs on k8s?

zyx3212y ago

Nope, they're all running on Rails.

1 more reply

Traubenfuchs2y ago

Hi, I was deeply involved in DBs Vendo project which completely replaced/renewed most of it's sales / customer-facing related backends and we were using Open Shift.

5/6 years ago... Everything could have changed again by now.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse