The DOS Machine That Haunts Me
It was one of those meetings that sticks with you long after you walk out the door.
I sat across from a fabricator who had built their entire operation on a single DOS workstation. It wasn’t just an old machine tucked in the back office collecting dust—it was the brain of their business.
Every single plan for every custom-made part they had ever produced was stored on it. If a customer called years later needing a replacement, they’d fire up that old machine, pull up the original design, and recreate it. No backups. No redundancy. No second chance if that machine failed.
It sat there, humming away, decades old but still running. Barely.
I asked them what their plan was if the computer died. They shrugged. “We’d be in trouble, that’s for sure.”
I walked them through solutions—ways to back up their data, transition to a more stable system, and ensure they didn’t wake up one morning to find years of work gone forever. They listened. They nodded. And in the end, they decided to do nothing.
To this day, I wonder if they ever got that information off before it was too late. Or if, one day, they powered it on and… nothing.
The FoxPro System That Should Have Been Retired a Decade Ago
That wasn’t the only time I saw a business rolling the dice with their entire operation.
Another company I worked with had been running their entire database on an ancient FoxPro system—one that hadn’t been supported in years. Their server was running Windows Server 2003. In 2022.
The system was so outdated that basic security measures were no longer an option. No patches. No modern protections. It was a hacker’s dream.
They knew it was a risk. They knew they needed to upgrade. But like so many others, they felt backed into a corner. The database was custom-built, tied deeply into their processes, and migrating everything to a new system felt overwhelming and expensive.
So they waited. And waited.
The longer they put it off, the worse it got. It wasn’t just security risks—it was compatibility issues, performance slowdowns, and the constant fear that the next reboot might be the last.
Eventually, they made the move. It wasn’t easy, but when it was done, they admitted something I hear all the time:
“We should have done this years ago.”
Why Businesses Get Stuck with Legacy Tech
I’ve seen this story play out again and again—businesses relying on technology that should have been retired decades ago. Not because they want to, but because they feel like they don’t have a choice.
Custom-built systems, software that only runs on outdated hardware, CNC machines tied to old operating systems—the cost of upgrading feels too high, so they push it off.
And then one day, the system fails.
No warning. No recovery plan. Just years of business-critical data, gone.
At first, everything seems fine. The machine still boots up. The software still works. But over time, the cracks start to show. The system runs slower, crashes more often. Finding parts becomes harder. The one technician who knew how to fix it retires. Then one day, after a power outage or a routine restart, the machine just doesn’t turn back on. And suddenly, the company isn’t just dealing with a technical problem—they’re facing a business crisis they should have seen coming.
What Happens When You Wait Too Long
The problem isn’t just that old tech is slow or inefficient—it’s that it’s a ticking time bomb.
The DOS workstation sitting in the corner of a shop might not seem like a big deal until the screen goes black and years of design records disappear with it. The old FoxPro database running on an ancient server might feel stable until a single vulnerability opens the door to a ransomware attack. The CNC machine still running Windows XP might be fine today, but what happens when the motherboard dies and no replacement exists?
The businesses that survive aren’t the ones who wait for disaster to strike—they’re the ones who recognize the risk and take steps to protect themselves before it’s too late.
How to Move Forward Without Shutting Everything Down
I get it—replacing an old system isn’t as easy as swapping out a laptop. Sometimes, there are no modern replacements for a critical piece of software. Sometimes, the cost of upgrading feels impossible to justify.
But the worst time to think about a backup plan is after the system fails.
Even if an upgrade isn’t in the budget today, businesses can still take steps to minimize risk and plan for the future.
Backing up critical data should be non-negotiable—because if the worst happens, the only thing that will matter is whether there’s a way to restore what was lost. Isolating old systems from the internet can help reduce the risk of cyber threats. And finding a path forward—whether it’s virtualization, migration, or a phased upgrade—ensures that when the inevitable happens, the business is prepared.
Because at the end of the day, it’s not a question of if legacy systems will fail. It’s a question of when.
