Vintage technology has been at work in New York subway structures for decades - and sometimes pops up in unexpected ways. Article for OS/2 fans
A New Yorker and a tourist enter the 42nd Street subway station, also known as Times Square. Sounds like the start of a joke. Actually, no: one of them is glad that he got there; for others, this situation is terribly annoying. One knows how to get out of there with maximum speed. The other one doesn't - he doesn't speak English. A New Yorker and a tourist are different people, but at the moment they are one. Both are exposed to the quirks of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) and the unheard-of reliability of a medium-success operating system of the early 1990s.
On an average working day in 2016, the New York subway carried 5,7 million people [for comparison: the Moscow metro has 6,7 million / approx. transl.]. It was the highest average since 1948. If you ask the average New Yorker, he is likely to say, "Is that all?" The disbelief is understandable, since the city has 8 million permanent residents, and during peak hours or holidays, the number of people sometimes inflates to 20 million. Apparently, a lot of people like to hail a taxi.
New York subway turnstiles
It's hard to bet on the future, but that's basically what the MTA has been doing.
March at Tedium about IBM's big bet on microkernels for operating systems, which included a variant of their well-known OS/2 operating system. It describes in detail what losses the company suffered because of this bet. However, IBM's confidence in the success of its operating system led other companies to make similar assumptions.
However, the biggest bet was made by the MTA, the Metropolitan Transit Authority, which needed to come up with a way to get rid of the tokens and move into an era in which everything must be digital. The result was a cult card . A thin slice of yellow plastic with a prominent black stripe has been a staple in New Yorkers' wallets since its release in 1993.
The history of the current method of access to the New York subway is interesting in the details of how the public infrastructure is set up and how it serves the public. But before that, it will be useful to understand how the current system came about. Because when you build something as important as a New York subway, it must eventually work as intended.
You basically only have one try and any mistakes are likely to result in billions in repair costs and the annoyance of millions of people. Among many choices, one of the most reliable has turned into one of IBM's biggest mistakes.
Five special MetroCards dedicated to David Bowie and paid for by Spotify. A few weeks into the fall of 2018, the company turned the Broadway-Lafayette/Bleecker Street station in the West Village into a pop art monument in honor of a nearby artist. In addition to using the back of MetroCards for advertising (and where not), the MTA constantly offers special editions of cards sponsored by major brands. The Supreme card options cost crazy money, but sometimes the MTA ditch the brands and just do something cool.
How IBM's operating system, which fanned the hype, but did not become something special, found a home for itself and served millions
Π many interesting details about microkernels and other things were mentioned about OS / 2, but in this article the fact that this OS still had its supporters is most relevant to the topic. Well, where without it.
The reason the MTA eventually decided to use OS/2, digitizing some aspects of the subway, reflects the hype that accompanied the launch of the OS in the early 1990s. However, talks and development had begun years before. Not particularly advertising it, Microsoft and IBM worked on the next generation of operating systems. Although Gates and Microsoft are said to have made IBM with their MS-DOS in the modern retelling of history, at the time, IBM clearly didn't see it that way.
Instead of bemoaning lost profits, IBM seemed to recognize their lack of knowledge, and began developing the next generation OS from the ground up, first with Microsoft. This undertaking, as you might guess, ended for IBM in much the same way as the story with MS-DOS. However, for a very short period of time in the late 1980s, MTA directors were just looking for ways to eliminate subway tokens and replace them with prepaid cards. The advantages were obvious - it made it easier to raise fares and introduce zone fees. Passengers were able to choose between a single trip or a round-trip trip, and an unlimited option appeared for a certain period of time.
To introduce this revolutionary update, the MTA turned to the well-known company, IBM. At the time it made sense.
OS/2 version 2.1
OS/2 and MTA consultant Neil Waldhauer said in an email, "There have been a few years where OS/2 has been a career bet."
To understand why, you need to understand that time. Waldhauer continues: βIt was a development from before Linux and Windows. OS/2 seemed like a safe choice for the future."
For lack of options, the MTA chose the best one. And it worked for several decades as one of the key software components in a rather complex system.
It could still survive, says Waldhauer: "Let me say that as long as the MetroCard is supported by the system, OS/2 will continue to work."
A very interesting point as the MTA is in the process of moving away from the MetroCard in favor of various forms of contactless payment. The transition should improve operational efficiency and help the MTA generate additional revenue.
Sounds interesting, but it's easy to see the problems if you look at a strange feature of the current MetroCard system.
My MetroCard, June's version of Gay Pride Month. Interestingly, it will last four months longer than the standard MetroCard, which can only be used for a year.
The mysterious magnetic strip and how it affects people's lives
In short, the transition from tokens to MetroCard took years, and was anything but smooth. Tokens were officially discontinued in 2003. By that time, MetroCards were accepted at all stations in the city - but no one liked it.
Getting on the subway is usually easy, but complaints about posting cards are everywhere. And a lot of the problems seemed to be related to stupid disconnects between different parts of the system. Although OS/2 is used to connect different parts of the subway system to a large mainframe, the standards of the components included were not the highest. The turnstiles in any NYC station are notorious for their capriciousness - but were able to work with the system from IBM.
ATMs also used to rely on OS/2
Despite OS/2's failure in the consumer market, it was incredibly reliable, which gave it a long life in commercial and industrial systems - and ATMs were one example of use. Waldhauer said, "Looking back at all the operating systems used in the MTA, OS/2 is probably the most reliable part of the system, with the exception of the mainframe." It is still in use on the NYC subway, in 2019. IBM abandoned it long ago, and even allowed another company to maintain software for it in 2001. (Today a firm called sells an officially supported version of OS/2, , although most of its users are in a situation similar to the MTA).
OS / 2 in the NYC subway plays the role of a conductor. It helps to integrate different parts that people use with parts that people don't use. Waldhauer notes, βThere are no OS/2 applications on the system for users to run. OS/2 is primarily used as an interface between the complex mainframe database and the simple computers used everyday in subways and buses. But in general, OS/2 computers are common throughout the system.β
We are talking about an operating system designed in the late 80s, released in the early 90s, as part of a complex relationship between two tech giants. The MTA had to ignore most of this story because it had already made its decision and it would have cost a lot of money to change course.
The coordination of the back end and the devices that New Yorkers and tourists encounter is ridiculously uncoordinated. If you want to imagine it, let's go back to Waldhauer: "I have a feeling that the developers planned for the MetroCard to work with the mainframe database, and some random electronic devices to tie it all together."
New York subway tokens, by date of use, from left to right: 1953β1970; 1970β1980; 1979β1980; 1980β1986; 1986β1995; 1995β2003
Now let's talk about the magnetic stripe. The black bar at the bottom of any MetroCard, regardless of branding, should just work. How it actually works is, for obvious reasons, a secret.
βPeople have been hacking the MetroCard,β Waldhauer said. βIf you can see the magnetic encoding, the bits are so big you can see them with a magnifying glass. The magstripe coding is so secret I've never seen it. It's amazing what people can go to for a free ride."
Does it matter today? Yes, in principle, it does not. The MTA has made it clear that it intends to move to contactless payments, as they did with the Oyster Card in London. However, this process also has its problems. They even hired the former head of the London system, and made it their ultimate goal to get rid of the MetroCard entirely.
The newly launched OMNY system, which will be rolled out in the next few years
In the future, people will be able to enter the New York City subway the way the Disneyland roller coaster queue passes today. This process will require the person to carry a device connected to the internet that will guide you through the turnstiles, be it a phone or a smartwatch. With any luck, we'll have a new MetroCard system. But there are no guarantees.
The practical and technological needs that created New York's subway affect virtually everyone in the city. New Yorkers are moving to new payment methods, and those who can pay for it will. The rest will stay at home.
Source: habr.com