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Munich still uses 41 proprietary apps that will only run under XP or 2000. The city has estimated it will cost $18M to replace them over a 4-year span.
Nick Heath at TechRepublic reports
Windows XP and 2000 are used by fewer than 1,500 of the more than 16,000 staff at the council, which relies on the aged Microsoft systems to run 41 applications.
[...] In order to stop using Windows XP and 2000, these 41 applications will either be migrated to a newer, supported operating system, replaced with more modern software, or phased out--as part of a four year project costing €16.6M ($18.03M).
[...] Munich carried on using XP and 2000 due to these 41 applications being used for crucial work in the city, from monitoring emissions for air pollution to flood protection.
To secure the OSes, Munich ran them on virtual machines and on standalone computers, as well as using what it calls "restrictive data interchange", quarantine systems, and additional protective measures.
The council has decided to stop using these older unsupported versions of Windows now as, not only are they a security risk, but according to a report [PDF, Deutsch] they have limited support for network and data security features the council wants to use.
[...] Often it can be the case that organisations can't update the application to run on a newer OS because the people with the necessary skills are gone or the company that originally wrote the software no longer exists.
[...] The project at Munich will be split into two phases: The first will assess the work needed and the second will carry it out. Work got underway at the end of [2015] and is expected to be complete by the end of September 2019.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 22 2016, @12:10PM
The key to legacy systems is to ensure the system/data/network requirements for them are well documented and reviewed often enough (and by enough people). Any software can be re-written - even if from scratch - with enough resources and project commitment (which Munich appears to have). But ...
... sometimes the devices used (e.g., for data gathering) no longer have drivers that are supported on current/newer/less-archaic platforms. In these instances outsource the development/re-engineering of the drivers to a specialty firm (but always retain rights to requirement & development documents, and the source code). The time and cost associated to hiring the right staff (with the specific skill set), bringing them up to speed, and developing/testing the replacement drivers is not practical. Outsourcing will look like it costs more up front, but you don't want someone who isn't a "driver person" developing a driver for you.