Forget inefficient cars: Inefficient, aging hardware and software is killing U.S. business. News broke on Friday that the U.S. Government’s highly successful “Cash for Clunkers” program was not, as has been reported and feared, stopping—even though new-car shoppers have gobbled up the $1 billion Congress initially set aside for it. White House Officials encouraged consumers to continue to take advantage of the program. Other government officials, acting like good car salesmen, preached impulsivity and fear—of losing out on a great deal, of course. “We don’t know how long it will last, so people should go to their car dealers now if they want to take advantage of the program,” Sen. Carl Levin, a Democrat from Michigan, was quoted as saying. (Hmmm. Michigan. Detroit’s in Michigan, right?) The success of the “Cash for Clunkers” program got me thinking: Why couldn’t U.S. businesses and organizations that are besieged with legacy computing environments also get their hands on a good old-fashioned government subsidy? So, just for some fun, let’s throw out some “mature” technologies that might qualify for a “Cash for IT Clunkers” program: Let’s start off with mainframes: Isn’t it time? In addition, CIOs won’t have to keep posting ads for programmers with COBOL skills in AARP magazine. Microsoft’s Windows 95 operating system? If you’re still running on that today…well, God bless and good luck. How about the decades-old Federal Aviation Administration’s NADIN Air-Traffic System, which provides the rather critical data communications between air-traffic controllers and pilots? The travel industry’s Sabre system, developed when disco was king, has to be looking a little gray in the tooth, no? Let’s put that one on a long cruise with the Palm Beach, Fla.-grandma set. Then there’s SAP’s antiquated R/3 ERP system. After all these years of complex integrations and bolt-ons, isn’t it time to say auf wiedersehen to it? What about green screen PCs and monitors? I think those are actually illegal in the United States. IBM’s geriatric OS/2: Companies who admit to running OS/2 are rarer than people who admit to listening to Celine Dion. So what else might qualify for the “Cash for IT Clunkers” program? Got a Compaq luggable lying around? A brick-sized cell phone? Some good old-fashioned Borland software? Let me know. P.S.: No nominating your older IT co-workers. Do you Tweet? Follow me on Twitter @twailgum. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline. Related content opinion What CIOs Need to Know About HP's Acquisition of Autonomy Here's why you should be paying attention: it's a big analytics play that could help lead the way to making sense of all the unstructured data that's overwhelming enterprises of all sizes, says analyst Charles King. By Todd R. Weiss Aug 24, 2011 4 mins Business Intelligence Data Warehousing Data Management opinion Enterprise BI Made Simple Will a simplified version of enterprise business intelligence software spur user adoption? Gartner analyst James Richardson thinks so. By Todd R. Weiss Aug 15, 2011 4 mins Business Intelligence Data Management opinion ERP Market Shake-Up: What It Means to Your Company ERP vendors continue to merge and be acquired at a steady pace in 2011. Here are some tips on how you can protect your company's interests as the marketplace continues to shift, from analyst Albert Pang. By Todd R. Weiss Aug 03, 2011 4 mins CIO ERP Systems Enterprise Applications opinion Cut IT Costs for Older ERP Apps With Third-Party Support Some large enterprises are looking to third-party ERP support providers to reduce their maintenance and support costs by 50 percent or more rather than sticking with their existing ERP vendors. Rebecca Wettemann of Nucleus Research explains the circu By Todd R. Weiss Aug 02, 2011 4 mins ERP Systems IT Strategy Enterprise Applications Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe