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> It's pointless to invoke the almighty Google; they simply don't deal with problems in this class FWIW, I worked at a major bank (top 5 in the U.S.) and liste
by jtbigwoo 16y ago
> It's pointless to invoke the almighty Google; they simply don't deal with problems in this class
FWIW, I worked at a major bank (top 5 in the U.S.) and listened in on several discussions between their top tech guys. As mentioned in other comments, their number one worry was the supply of COBOL coders.
They were terrified of Google and/or Paypal and what would happen if one of those companies got serious about competing in the banking arena. Most of the top architects _knew_ that it was possible to build a bank on a huge cluster of servers. They also knew that there was no way an existing bank could build the infrastructure and software while also maintaining their existing infrastructure.
- rbranson 16y agoApparently PayPal isn't in technologically fantastic shape either. Word on the street is that they still have their core offering written in C using a CGI interface.
- jff 16y agoC? I guess that only puts them 30 years ahead of the banks, then...
- Shorel 16y agoWith good unit testing C is very robust and also much cheaper in hardware footprint.
- rbranson 16y agoI wasn't as much bashing C as I was the use of CGI. Most of the time when C is paired with CGI it's a pretty good indication that the code is chock full of memory leaks.
- cabalamat 16y agoI would love to see some startup disrupt the banking industry.