CCLs Compter System

[megmno]

I was just talking to a very nice lady at Carnival's call center and she had to put me on hold for a lengthy period of time while she beat up her computer to make it behave. When she got back on the phone I commented that she must have a really annoying system to work with. She answered that CCL's reservation system is running in DOS. :eek:

 

Now, I'm no computer expert (though my DS is) but isn't that ancient history in the computer development timeline??? Shouldn't a mega company like CCL have invested in newer systems by now?

[rjpolly]

I am not really sure, I cant really comment on if this system is new or not, because I am not very familiar with compter systems.

[mrpayroll]

Another reason why they can keep their prices so low.

[stevethepirate]

I really doubt they're running dos. They're probably running a terminal program on top of Windows. Bad choice of words I would think. Networking would be another issue. Nope, Don't think they're running dos.

[shof515]

I really doubt they're running dos. They're probably running a terminal program on top of Windows. Bad choice of words I would think. Networking would be another issue. Nope, Don't think they're running dos.

 

Yes. Alot of mega company use various terminal program that look like dos or anything of the last decade, but the core operating system is either linux or windows

[kr8z]

Costco runs DOS and I was shocked. Poor tire guy tried to show me something last week (I had to log in to their site from my iPhone just to understand what he was trying to show me) and I asked him why they didn't at the minimum have a GUI interface even though I haven't even seen that in the last decade. Some businesses still run DOS. Hey, if you know how to read it and the commands, it is easy. I would think that places would update by now, but whatever.

[zqvol]

Costco runs DOS and I was shocked. Poor tire guy tried to show me something last week (I had to log in to their site from my iPhone just to understand what he was trying to show me) and I asked him why they didn't at the minimum have a GUI interface even though I haven't even seen that in the last decade. Some businesses still run DOS. Hey, if you know how to read it and the commands, it is easy. I would think that places would update by now, but whatever.

 

Since all they are doing is running the front end of a database on it DOS makes perfect sense, no need to eat up resources for a GUI.

[kr8z]

Since all they are doing is running the front end of a database on it DOS makes perfect sense, no need to eat up resources for a GUI.

 

Yeah, but it looks prettier ;)

[cruiseguynashville]

Most larger hotels use a system that looks similar to a DOS-based program as well. I've been told (working in the business) that it has to do with fact that these setups are simpler in design and are typically more stable. This is incredibly important when everything (including your room key) is controlled by a computer system.

[SummerXU]

My company still uses a DOS based application as one of our operating tools too. (Thanks goodness all of our other programs have progressed or else we'd have no customers.) We moan and groan about it, and are hoping to get it upgraded, but I guess it serves it's purpose.

[gargoyle999]

Guess I'm luckier than I thought! At my job we grumble about having to work on Windows 95 and IE 6.

[webzila]

I highly doubt that Carnival or any other company or individual still runs DOS. Like others have mentioned it is most likely a mainframe terminal server application which is still very common. It may resemble DOS since it has no GUI and pretty much everything is done with keystrokes.

[webzila]

Guess I'm luckier than I thought! At my job we grumble about having to work on Windows 95 and IE 6.

 

Hehe..Win 95? How does your IT manager still have a job? :D

[tef43]

GUI is vastly overrated, especially in a heads-down data-entry environment. Character/terminal mode displays are *much* quicker.

[lele100]

Carnival is using the AS400, as their database . I know this because I live in South Florida (Boynton Beach) and when I was looking for a job about a year ago I received a call from Carnival to set up an interview. (I have QA experience working on the AS400) Did not go because Miami is quite a drive from Boynton. But many businesses expecially big financial companies still use AS400 because it is a more reliable database. And also to switch everything over would cost to much money, and hiring of new IT staff (developers, QA etc) who will have experience in the .NET programming language.

[gtalum]

I really doubt they're running dos. They're probably running a terminal program on top of Windows. Bad choice of words I would think. Networking would be another issue. Nope, Don't think they're running dos.

 

I'm not saying that CCL still uses DOS, as I have no idea, but you'd be surprised how many large corporations still use DOS. Big corporations (and the government) don't like to upgrade their basic software. I bet you didn't know that Microsoft still officially supports DOS 6.22 (which is the last version of standalone MS-DOS, released in the early 1990's) for large enterprise customers.

 

This reluctance to upgrade is one reason why it's so easy for hackers to exploit and hack corporate servers.

 

As for CCL, their front-end system is so embarrassingly bad that I have no problem believing their back-end systems must be absolutely atrocious to work with.

[steve819]

Doubt that it is running DOS. To the unexperienced eye, it looks like DOS. I'll bet that they are running terminals or PC's that run a 5250 terminal emulator program that is supported by thier AS/400 system. It is a "green screen" non graphical program that uses only text. No Windows type of screens with all of it's overhead.

Why??, because when you are doing high volume work and want flat out reliabilty, it can't be beat. Pretty graphics get in the way when your mission is to capture the data and manage the reservation.

[shwabob]

It's an old-school AS400 system. You'd be surprised how many of the companies out there still utilize the old Mainframe systems like that. They're extremely reliable and probably everyone of my large customers (RCCL just happens to be one of them - the IT guy there I deal with prefers cruising Carnival.) or financial institution customers are still reliant upon the power-based iSeries systems. They'll probably be migrating to something more fancy in the coming years...I have a customer that is doing that now and they're talking between $5-10 million to get off their AS400's and onto "new" Oracle/SQL based successors over a 3 year period. Carnival is probably in the same boat...spend millions to upgrade the system, or just keep the existing system alive - it's a dilemma a lot of companies are facing.