What are you missing?

What are you missing?

Definitely agreed. As software becomes more and more tightly integrated with increasingly expensive physical objects the age of the software will grow.

Example: In the airport (Copenhagen), I'm working for, we built a new terminal a few years ago. The terminal building has two tiers, one for Schengen passengers (which more or less are all passengers originating inside the EU) and one for non-Schengen passengers (ie. non-EU pax) which are required by law to be kept separate until their passports have been checked. In order to lead passengers from the two tiers through boading lounges onto the aircraft and vice versa, there is an elaborate system of doors and staircases. The business rules for opening and closing these doors are in reality law and are so complex that handling personnel cannot be expected to be able to follow them.

So, of course these these doors are computer-controlled! The point is that the software controlling these doors is likely to exist as long as we have non-Schengen passengers in Copenhagen and as long as the two-tiered terminal still stands. 50 years is not completely unrealistic.

I know of several similar examples of software passing its 30-year birthday