Answer to Question #98580 in Software Engineering for Aliasgar Ansari

Question

Legacy system are not just software system but are broader socio-technical system that includes various inter-related part. Discuss this logical part of a legacy system

Answer 1

In information technology, a legacy system is some outdated technology, method, program or computer system used by many people who got used to it or use it because it is still reliable and easy-to-understand. Indeed, it includes many different sometimes deeply integrated inter-related parts. The reason is that when (personal) computers became available to practically everyone, many institutions realized their significance and effectiveness in processes previously operated by people. For instance, many governmental organizations still use old applications written in old languages with antiquated interface and logic or even old operating systems because of lack of financing or because "this works satisfactorily and staff who use this for many years does not want to change anything." Not everyone is ready for the rapid modern growth of technologies. One of the main problems regarding software is that software developed to run on old hardware requires too much time and money to maintain, which led to the invention of emulators and backward compatibility.