First, I don't get the primary complaint in the article. The MTA chose OS/2 in the early 1990s, when there no other choices and it has served the MTA for almost 30 years with minimal hassles of upgrades or outages. I can't recall a single day when the Metrocard was not working - sure there are problems but it is more a UI/UX issue - a app that shows you Metrocard usage and balance would be insanely useful but we lack small mercies but hey you can pay with your smartwatch /s.
A piece of technology that is stable for 30 years is remarkable. Even if they had gone with Linux/NT the upgrade cycles themselves would have wreaked havoc. OS/2 seems like a brilliant choice in that regard.
Questions left unaddressed:
- What tech did they move to now with contactless payments?
- The move to contactless payments is awesome but what happens to people who lack smartphones or do not have credit cards or <big-tech>-pay setup on their phones. Or just casual tourists visiting from overseas with no US cards. How do they pay? Do they keep supporting metrocards forever? Does that mean to support Metrocards they need OS/2 and assorted new systems.
- What is the mainframe part of the stack and what function does it do.