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Comment by EpicEng | Hacker News Reader

Compatibility with what? It's not being upgraded because it works. There's a reason that most POS systems still look like something out of Tron. They work, they're battle hardened, and they're fast. Upgrade to some new system and only if you're a glutton for pain (unless you have to absolutely change systems for some reason, then you're just forced to be in pain for a while.)

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POS systems "battle hardened"? We're all paying through the nose right now because credit card companies refuse to update their POS POS magnetic stripe readers and pendants.

and when a component breaks?

More so considering the city might want to close down the bridge (eh... open it? lift it?!) remotely in case of an emergency. They might also want to throw in some traffic condensation sensors and cameras for security and/or tickets and so on...

It wouldn't surprise me if the new system turns out to be less reliable and not last as long, due to all these added things. This isn't aerospace-level, but it's still an application where bugs can be truly dangerous (e.g. bridge attempts to open while you're driving across?)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second-system_effect

We actually have relevant history of that in Seattle. The 520 bridge opened whilst traffic was running back in the 80s, killing one.

If it breaks, you surely need to fix it (and having plans to fix it or upgrading it due to lack of replacement parts etc is of course neccessary). However, there is also inherent risks in upgrading such appliances, so it should not be done simply because the hardware is old.

From the original article:

> The old-school electric resistors and other parts are wearing out, so that replacements must be scavenged from city shops or eBay, he says. Finnick recalls a 12-hour stoppage, when the city used a backup diesel motor to lift the bridge for boats. Other times, the city dispatched a second bridge tender to help open the bridge manually.

It does break and replacement parts are hard to find.

Compatibility with the rest? Like, the users?

Everyone, but the US is paying mobile. US are still using magnetic strip credit cards. It wasn't that painful in Europe.

Last time I checked Germany wasn't part of the US and we use magnetic strip cards all the time here.

I think the magnetic strip isn't used by terminals; the chip is.

The magnetic strip can't even be used anymore: http://www.n24.de/n24/Wissen/Finanzen/d/1798604/der-magnetst...

It was barely used anymore before

Why would I want to have to pay mobile when I can carry a much more durable and less valuable piece of plastic that performs just as well and never runs out of battery?

Ignore pay mobile - why stick with magnetic stripe and unchecked signatures when you could have chip and pin?

Because the cost of upgrading the infrastructure to do chip and pin has always been more than the cost of fraud associated with magnetic stripes.

Well, and also that the people who get stuck with the bill for fraud are not the same people who pay for the infrastructure.

Is that actually the case? Who do you see making up each of those groups?

Then why was the transition done in Europe? Was there more fraud there?

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