Ah, there’s another snag, DavidT: the simulators that I mentioned (we have two)
were installed in 2004 and some display components are failing, components for
which spares are no longer available. Last week some young and keen contract
officers (on our side) found clauses in the contract which stated that the
contractor would maintain 95% availability of spares for the life of the
equipment (15 years). This came as a shock to the contractor’s chief engineer,
as well it might.
I don’t know about more savvy types on the List, but it would seem unreasonable
for the contractor, a very well regarded designer and supplier of such kit, to
be held to that sort of contract term – given the speed of obsolescence of the
stuff that we are talking about. And having XP running the system is a minor
problem in comparison . . .
Chris
> On 20 May 2017, at 13:08, David Thatcher <plusphoto@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Longer term, this may not be the case. Many organisations still use a
> modern IBM AS/400 simply because they had an AS/400 25 years ago. Even
> now, the cost of conversion would be significant and less favourable to
> buying a replacement machine that supports your existing software.
>
> Modern design methodology is interesting. I've been away from
> electronics manufacturing for over 20 years. I've recently been looking
> at things in a consultant role, and I found a few weeks back that modern
> component data sheets consistently show the bulk packaging
> specification, and looking at online supply sources, they now show a
> minimum guaranteed supply period. I'm sure this information was always
> available during the pricing process (and why purchasing departments
> existed 30 years ago), but now it's much easier to find at 'first look'.
--
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