How the 60-Year-Old IRS Computer System Failed on Tax Day

[@Geforce2187]

"Mr. Simpson, this government computer can process over 9 tax returns per day. Did you really think you could fool it?"

[@Mi_Fa_Volare]

I was thinking about the exact same scene.

[@NewPaulActs17]

@@Mi_Fa_Volare i need an episode name pls

[@Geforce2187]

@@NewPaulActs17 Season 9, Episode 20- The Trouble With Trillions

[@h2oaddict]

If I don't see it it's not illegal

[@MrMatteNWk]

An older boy told me to do it.

[@smittenthekitteninmittens2679]

i don't understand why tech tales isn't as popular as other LGR things..i could listen to Clint talk about old/new/obsolete tech all day long!!!

[@h0lx]

probably the research time vs duration of content

[@smittenthekitteninmittens2679]

@@h0lx the amount of work/research that goes into these videos must be CRAZY!!..i

[@ClintChance]

Really?

[@Yusuke_Denton]

They have about as many views if not more than his other videos.

[@smittenthekitteninmittens2679]

@@Yusuke_Denton watch his anniversary video

[@saleendriver]

Being a former IBMer , I enjoyed this video. Well researched, well done. I am so glad I found this page a year ago. Thank you once again sir.

[@lothar71]

@@Michael-zj3cn The only pathetic one is you.

[@P.W.R.]

@@Michael-zj3cn Someone piss in your cheerios this morning or what?

[@fullyqualifiedgendergremli9567]

What what is wrong with you dude

[@atreyu4ws]

I am a COBOL programmer. Some of the proprietary code I work with was written before I was born! Companies still use it because it doesn't break too often and it's relatively simple to fix (unless it's a huge pile of spaghetti of course). We don't use physical cylinders and tape for storage anymore, but like LGR mentioned, it is emulated. Notice, the new firmware failed, not the old software or mainframe ;)

[@JasonZakrajsek]

The old firmware failed. They didn’t update to the new one.

[@GrumpyIan]

Tape storage is still a thing, and is rather cheap at roughly $60 a terabyte.

[@SuperPickle15]

@@GrumpyIan tape is only used for long term archives. It's not used for everyday use because it's read and write time sucks.

[@ruikazane5123]

'Legacy' to say.

[@TheDavo10001]

I just had this image of COBOL programmers looking a bit like Indiana Jones exploring through a cobwebby old ruin somewhere in search of elusive files or subroutines

[@KentHambrock]

My wife is from just outside Martinsburg and had never heard of the Martinsburg Monster. Entertainingly, she's working as a contractor on a NASA project currently that still uses Fortran and C code written in the 80's.

[@dirkflannigan5271]

There is a lot of code supporting scientific libraries that originated in the 60s, and written in fortran. Look at the history of BLAS for example. A lot of really good techniques and algorithms came out of the 60s and 70s, and just don't need updating other than to compile on newer systems. Mathematics doesn't move that quickly.

[@KentHambrock]

Yep, totally aware that Fortran is still used today in mathematical situations. It's supposed to be one of the most efficient languages for certain math related tasks, but sadly that's not the case here. Almost none of the Fortran involves math related functions and nearly all of it is written as poorly as possible. Updating any piece means going over thousands of lines of code to make sure it will compile with the current compilers. xD

[@johnfrancisdoe1563]

Kent Hambrock A satellite developed and launched in the 1980s with extremely modern tech (first sat to space qualify the Intel 486) also reused 1960s FORTRAN code that was once used for a historic satellite measuring the same natural phenomena. Nothing wrong about that.

[@KentHambrock]

@@johnfrancisdoe1563 As long as the code was written well, it doesn't matter what language you use, but I get to hear daily how poorly this code was written. Written in ways that bugged the compiler into working when there was no good reason why it should have accepted the code. Issues with the compiler that have since been fixed so the code can't compile.

[@big8news]

Sadly NASA does have anything that flys anymore thanks to number 44 he ended that fast.

[@kyleheckman]

A lot of old large companies that adopted computers early on face this problem, it’s hard / expensive to migrate all that data and write new code for modern machines without creating issues. and since it still works, for the most part, getting the budget and resources approved is a challenge

[@CemetryGator]

Another big problem is as long as the old system is in use, you need to keep it up to date. Which means you need a team of people working on that system. Which means at some point, you either need to stop supporting that old system, or you can easily end up supporting it indefinitely. So yeah, doing a switchover on a running system could mean you end up paying for doing the development twice.

[@Faddnn]

It's cheaper to update the tech. It takes up less space, uses less power, does the job faster, less maintenance and down time, cheaper parts.

[@DinnerForkTongue]

The flipside is what we see here: CATASTROPHIC mass system failures.

[@TheAkashicTraveller]

It's also the same reason British rail is so bad. We got there first before the technology was perfected and are now trying to hold a very old system together while scraping together funds for upgrades.

[@LazerLord10]

One thing I want to know about those old mainframes is what those tapes do and why they move in that iconic way.

[@danrbarlow]

The machine's internal RAM was very small, smaller than the cache on a modern CPU. They move that way because they are reading individual records from the tape, true "random access".

[@HuskyGamersUNITE]

The tapes are data tapes. Like the hard drives that succeeded them, they read and write data from the mainframe to the tape magnetically. So each little increment and winding, the machine is reading the little bits of data recorded onto the tape and writing to another.

[@thetman0068]

This is why you always file early. Be Ned Flanders. Don't be the rest of Springfield.

[@lajya01]

Not too early though or you'll be the guinea pig for the new changes.

[@JHMBB2]

Oh man, my dad worked at the IRS since the late 80s, I wonder if he's seen these old IBM main frames. I did walk into the building once as a child in the early 90s, it looked a lot like some of the footage shown here! **Edit: That computer chronicles episode listed is showing footage from the exact office i visi ted as kid, might be why it looked so familiar!

[@cromulence]

This is utterly unsurprising. I work in a bank and the primary critical system is called ATLAS. Written in the 1980s, again in COBOL, it is an amazingly flexible (if not antiquated) piece of software, comprised of millions of lines of code to do just about every single financially related function you can think of. It was originally written to run on Tandem NonStop computers, which were bought by Compaq, who were then bought by HP. The crux of it is that a new mainframe was bought for each branch, which not only cost serious cash, but is the last of the Itaniums. Old code is great when it works, but this needs round the clock modifications to keep up with changes that happen in the finance sector. There are contractors making serious cash from their COBOL skills. Yes, eventually these systems will disappear, but the effort needed to replace them is huge.

[@BXJ-mi9mm]

@Jason Bratcher Why do you care?

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

...and perform like ass due to lack of optimization and under powered systems.

[@AllGamingStarred]

seriously? the IRS still uses Cobol? better start learning i guess

[@travis1240]

better start now :)

[@jimmyvau]

The financial world runs on IBM Mainframes and COBOL

[@BrooksSeanRobinson]

James Vaughn A lot of the travel industry (airlines) use ibm mainframes too. The company I worked for trained us on TPF assembly because no schools teach it.

[@ImNotADeeJay]

true, very few bank CIOs are willing to risk their bonuses trying to migrate their transactional workloads to distributed environments (or cloud).

[@johnmccallum8512]

Hal I hope that my bank NEVER puts any of their banking on the "cloud" stupid idea.

[@ImNotADeeJay]

@@johnmccallum8512 I am afraid that is something likely to happen in the mid/long run. Mainframe is a fading technology, so don't freak if your bank has his core running in AWS/Azure/Google or the likes in ten or fifteen years.

[@Fudwinkle]

It's only the lower stack these days, there's a modern cloud on top 🙂 The vital stuff is on the mainframe (which uses relational databases these days, not IMS), and there's probably not only one. The bank I work for has multiple backup mainframes at different sites with diesel generators, so there's redundancy in case of one failing. (The power did screw up at the one at my site last year and the diesel generator, which is a ship class engine, made the whole building shake lol)

[@ryanpaaz]

From what I’ve read applications like this are perfect use cases for mainframes. High reliability, high access, zero acceptable errors. Banks use mainframes too. I can only imagine if the IRS tried to cobble something together in Visual Basic.

[@Hyreia]

In their defense, if it ain't broke don't fix it... And now it broke. So time to fix it.

[@robertpryor7225]

Penny saved... Than the devil you don't know

[@johnl.knowdy6152]

It's a state of mind, some people like patching, some people like fixing. In this case, it's the government, so they'll not go bankrupt I guess.

[@MrSaywutnow]

"So time to fix it." Preferably before all the remaining COBOL programmers die of old age.

[@wta1518]

They’ll just get the money from the taxes Oh wait...

[@doubtful_seer]

I can find articles of congresspeople warning the IRS needed to update their technology going back to 1989. 2021 and they still refuse to do anything to make things run more smoothly, as shown by how they’re handling sending the stimulus out to SSDI and SSI recipients.

[@M3n747]

In my city there's a car repair shop that still to this day uses a Commodore 64 in conjunction with custom-built software and hardware for balancing axles.

[@ZeroWalker26]

fun thing is the labor office and tax office here in my city in Sweden still uses Dos system so when there is a problem the whole system can be down for weeks because they only have 1 single man that can dos and the old system and the fun part that man is old has retired but they have to call him in away. I told them to hire me because I grew with DOS and that retired man could teach me what I need to learn before he kicks the bucket. Or better yet they should maybe upgrade.

[@cleverlyblonde]

Or try to virtualise so they can make snapshots and backups easier, then begin the work to upgrade?

[@jonathanellis6097]

It's mad and a little worrying when you think about the amount of old, overworked, and abused, infrastructure the modern world is dependent on!!

[@cactusman1771]

If it isn't broke don't fix it. There are places that still use roman aqueducts and roads. There are railroads that still use tracks from the 19th century.

[@lordofthecats6397]

@@cactusman1771The policy of many governments and businesses is "If it ain't broke, I won't pay to fix it" which leads to a lot of problems ranging from Flint Michigan to Heartbleed

[@Chevdriver]

A few years ago i worked at an very old coal power plant, we installed fibre-optic-cables in the server/control room... i was shocked to see all this old technology, looked like homer simpsons workplace. They told me whatever you do, dont touch that one connector sitting loosely on some "control-panel" (only held in place by gravity and love) or else the whole plant can shut down! After working for a while ive noticed the connector was slightly tilted, i was like holy f*ck how did this happened and put it back on immediately ( i dont now what caused it to tilt, maybe my elbow touched the cable of the connector) The next day they told us "We had few sides of error messages showing up on our system, you guys know what happened?"

[@ped7g]

Exactly... although the idea of replacing those with some brand new buzzword cloud SaaS angular thing doesn't really lessen my worries, quite opposite...

[@spottydog4477]

You should be more worried about windows 10

[@Frankfurtdabezzzt]

As a sysadmin, this is what my nightmares look like. Those poor guys at the IRS IT...

[@420sakura1]

You really feel sorry for them?

[@Frankfurtdabezzzt]

@@420sakura1 Yes. They're the IT guys working for the IRS, not the IRS themselves.

[@lajya01]

I work in a tax agency in Canada. I've seen many experienced consultants and high profile service providers(Oracle, IBM, Microsoft, etc..) freak out when dealing with our systems. The amount of inter-operability with systems spawning many generations and architectures is just insane in those places.

[@Ryusuta]

I legitimately didn't know I'd be spending my morning listening to a video about IRS tax computers from the 1950s. And now that I am, I'm glad I did so. =)

[@katymccoy5581]

Didn't think I would on my break but meh

[@johnfrancisdoe1563]

Bonus fact: the IBM 360 series is still being made and upgraded. The compatible successors included the 370 series, the 3090 series and now the z-series. It has great virtual machine and SSE support since at least the 1980s.

[@perolozac01]

Don't ever be discouraged or think no one is watching or cares for these Tech Tales. More people watch and enjoy these than you're probably aware of. It's certainly one of my personal favorites. Now, back to doing my taxes...

[@thecomputerinside]

sounds like the Martinsburg Monster was an absolute unit?

[@isaakwelch3451]

Imagine the sheer size of the lad

[@martinbrewer7629]

@@isaakwelch3451 Don't have to... Couldn't fit the thing in my trousers, so now I sling it around my neck and tell everyone it's a hamburger eating python..

[@vincentlamb3436]

Seeing the shelves stacked with magnetic tape reels was refreshing.

[@Chaos89P]

@TheComputerInside All computers at the time, even including the snarky one from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, were. Most of them were huge beasts! @@isaakwelch3451 Many computers back then were about the size of a large room.

[@dinitroacetylen]

It was an absolute unit, and now it's an obsolete unit.

[@Zeropointill]

ah yeah, new LGR video. This is something i can wake up with a coffee to.

[@BeardofBeesPool]

Boo-erns

[@GobblesPlays]

my god your documentary style videos are good. Good job man, love your stuff!

[@mkruizv]

I love this stories. Keep going, Clint. This one in particular strikes me close, because i have my first corporate job in years and taxing has changed in my country.

[@MrIfrit]

Systems too complex to be replaced. Pretty soon we'll dealing with these technologies the same way the adeptus mechanicus deal with theirs.

[@akimbofurry2179]

Is this harisy I hear?

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

I'll prepare the toasters.

[@crowdemon_archives]

Tbf, they don't really have manuals lol

[@celebratelife865]

I am still getting through the backlog of your videos, and this one is just as good as any of your other videos. You are an excellent writer. And keep up the great editing! 🎉

[@MrClawt]

I have watched every LGR video from the old school sipping Dr. Pepper days, and this is probably the most fascinating. People just simply accept that computers assist with just about everything today, but seeing how much effort had to be put in to place to tell people that the a computer doing your taxes was not a bad thing just shows how much the world has changed. The whole using lines of code that pre-date the moon in a world that just took a photo of a black hole is just mind boggling, but also a testament to what happens to good code.

[@DarkestHeartEvE]

Clint can I just say I watched this on my TV and honestly forgot I was watching a video on KZbin - the quality of your presentation is quite literally at a professional level. Really enjoyed it!

[@LGR]

Thank you!

[@TheGuyWhoIsSitting]

Whenever someone tells me companies and the government use only up to date stuff and learning any older languages is pointless I always think of how many companies and things rely on legacy hardware.

[@naviconnectionmusic6204]

YES TECH TALES IS BACK!

[@nicholasrockstroh6920]

This was fantastic! My father works for the IRS and probably remembers the shift to microcomputers. I should ask him about all of this stuff...

[@DinnerForkTongue]

Show this to him and tell us of the results!

[@SaberusTerras]

Oh damn, Unisys? I've dealt with them, they hire the cheapest they can find for field techs. Makes sense they'd skimp on talent all the way up the chain. And the DS8880 is no f-ing joke. IBM does not fool around with the big iron, it's their bread and butter. They put out a firmware update, they aren't asking you to consider updating, they're telling you to update.

[@ruikazane5123]

They're called IBM for a reason!

[@godfreypoon5148]

@@ruikazane5123 "Involuntary Bowel Movement"?

[@buggsyspam]

I laughed out at the Unisys part. It was a great company to work for in the 90's. like so many other companies, they suffered from the tech bubble bust and cut corners wherever they could.

[@MrSaywutnow]

@@godfreypoon5148 "Involuntary Bowel Movement"? Sounds like what was happening at a lot of IRS offices on tax day.

[@MidnightThunderYT]

@Godfrey Poon. IBM = International Business Machines

[@GimblyGFR]

It's so great to have Tech Tales back. Hope the next one won't take long. As usual, an amazing video.

[@wspolczynnik_poissona]

Have you play Pac-Man? Then you've played Taxman without even knowing it!

[@MisterTalkingMachine]

''I used to be a pinball freak That's where you'd find me every week But now it's Pacman Yeah it's the Pacman I love to gobble up those dots Keep pumpin' quarters in the slots They call it Pacman Yeah it's the Pacman''

[@GTcroove]

Nice AVGN reference right there.

[@ivanmiranda841]

One of my favourites AVGN episodes

[@thetman0068]

Mmmmm classic AVGN

[@wareforcoin5780]

JUST rewatched that episode! Love it!

[@johnfrancisdoe1563]

Nothing in that old code failed on that day. The failure was in a top of the line modern "high reliability" disk system, which has apparently caused other high profile failures around the world. It was apparently so unreliable that UNISYS no longer trusted the quality of IBM firmware updates.

[@CharlieFlemingOriginal]

Its amazing what technology hangs on when people think it is long gone. I worked for Boots The Chemist and in 2004 a store I worked in were using a printer from the 1980s and a price ticket printer that to get ink for involved calling Staples or independent stationers for replacements, and an employment agency office I used to work in still used a windows 95 computer for storing everyones details on in 2011.

[@TessaBain]

Yeah, on the Win 95 thing, a store near me did that as well. A major chain using win 95 and upgrading - to XP - in 2010 or so.

[@CharlieFlemingOriginal]

@@TessaBain I am surprised these places have moved on with writing with newfangled technology as a Biro and not sticking to a quill and ink pot.

[@veraxis9961]

Something about seeing massive rows of IBM tape computers just makes me irrationally happy.

[@FlatEarthDisciple]

Hey Clint, I'm always hungry for your Tech Tales. It's the best series you do. I can't get enough. Please do more! And thanks for all the entertainment!

[@faerieringwildlifeandmore]

thanks for always having captions on your videos!

[@yvonnerogers6429]

Wow! Thanks so much for this video. That was exceptionally fascinating, especially as my grandfather worked for the IRS during the era in which the agency installed the Monster and implemented all that code. It was cool to get a little glimpse of his world, even if he worked in a different department than the programmers.' Of course, I'm sure last year's glitch had him facepalming from the hereafter! I hope there's a permanent resolution soon. In the meantime, this was an awesome video! This must've taken an awful lot of work, and I loved every minute of it! Enjoy your weekend!

[@markpfeffer7487]

Yoooo this is both super informative and super interesting. Keep it up Clint. Love it.

[@rogero8443]

Freaking awesome video man! Must have taken forever. I was enthralled the entire time. You are a beautiful person to make this for us.

[@rogero8443]

Also lol the server failed because of "cache overflow" is a decent pun in this situation.

[@coyote_den]

"That morning it detected a deadlock condition during a warm start" ...a warm start. on tax day. Who had the bright idea to reboot the most important computer in the IRS on tax day???

[@MrSaywutnow]

Maybe they had some other problem, and they were asked if they'd tried turning it off and on again.

[@andriealinsangao613]

BLOODY INDIAN TECH SUPPORT!

[@Lloyd-Black]

No matter what, I always come back to your channel. I subscribed some time ago. I don't watch everything but I do enjoy most of it. Keep up the great work. This video was out of the ordinary but equally awesome. Thank you.

[@LGR]

Thank you!

[@codingmasters]

COBOL: Completely Obsolete Business-Oriented Language

[@Dimondminer11]

You sir speak the stuff of LEGEND

[@captainkeyboard1007]

That is a "good" description for an outdated computer language.

[@dacypher22]

Thanks for making another Tech Tales! These are my favorite videos on all of KZbin and I know they take a ton of your time to make.

[@TheBurg229]

COBOL programmer here. COBOL still handles the majority of your financial transactions.

[@ve2dmn]

"Majority" as in 95% probably. Banks are very slow to move.

[@RaymondHng]

Along with CICS, right?

[@CORVETTE_DUDE_CHANNEL]

Since the 1960s IBM mainframes have been backward compatible meaning that code written 50 years ago will run on the latest mainframes with little to no modifications. Hence there is no incentive to rewrite the old code. This was IBMs crowning achievement for its customers saving them millions. As a comparison apps written for my iPad 1 will not work on my latest iPad. Xbox games don’t run on the latest Xbox one x.

[@RaymondHng]

@@CORVETTE_DUDE_CHANNEL That's because you have only executable code and do not have the source code to your iOS apps unlike enterprise IT departments that develop and maintain their COBOL source code. If they had only executable code to their programs, then they will be limited from using those executables on later versions of the operating system.

[@CORVETTE_DUDE_CHANNEL]

@@RaymondHng - No you are wrong, The source code needs to change if the underlying systems software changes without supporting the older system functions. For example source code that called systems API functions that no longer exist or work differently. That breaks the source code! Hence the source code needs to be rewritten.

[@flaturiah]

Man, I've watched every last Tech Tales video now. Can't wait for your next one, Clint!

[@NathanChisholm041]

You have increased my knowledge! I thankyou....

[@preinstalleduser2309]

Wow what a flash back. I did COBOL, Assembler and RPGII programming in the early 80’s. Also worked hands on with those IBM main frames with Winchester and tape drives all connected to the oversized tractor drive printers for green bar paper output. Thanks for the video.

[@KuraIthys]

Ah, obtuse, opaque legacy code. Nothing quite like it. XD Bonus incomprehensibility points for it involving assembly code for an obsolete hardware platform. I bet much of that assembly isn't all that well documented either. Yeah, that's quite the liability huh. XD

[@toymachine4253]

IBM's idea of job security

[@neeneko]

assembly is its own documentation, it tells you exactly what the computer is doing!

[@C0Ntro11Da7rail]

@@neeneko unless its an assembly code specific to that mainframe like say instead of mov its go or something or it might be just bare machime code

[@KuraIthys]

@@neeneko I take it you've never tried to actually read uncommented assembly before? ;p What you say is technically correct, but... In practice... I mean, technically a program written using esolangs.org/wiki/brainfuck Is also self-documenting, but... It sure isn't going to be a pleasant experience making sense of it. And, in theory, the output of movfuscator is indeed also 'self-documenting', but... Good luck with that. Source code comments exist for a reason. Depending on whether it's assembly as written by a programmer, or decompilation of the raw bytecode, assembly may contain relative jumps defined only by an offset, unlabelled variables, magic numbers, etc. Sure you can read that if you're desperate enough, but it's not a trivial task.

[@TheExileFox]

@@KuraIthys at least it's not written in visual basic or lolcode

[@kaleidoscopickait]

Tech tales are some of my favorite videos on the channel! You always talk about really interesting stuff, and everything is thoroughly researched!

[@YoshiShoopDaWhooper]

I'm surprised no one filed their income as $60000'); DROP TABLE taxes;-- and broke the system

[@lvl10cooking]

I'm pretty sure despite the age of the system that they sanitized their inputs.

[@llamaboyjoey]

I think this code MIGHT be a little to old for SQL injection to work... lol

[@lvl10cooking]

@@llamaboyjoey I didn't even think of that, this shit is older than most of the parents of the people watching this.

[@Abdega]

@Onno Inada I guess the only way to try something like that would be to actually know COBOL

[@teelo12000]

My name is Robert'); DROP TABLE taxes;--

[@Peteman81]

Really pleased to see a new Tech Tales video - I've been re-watching the older ones!

[@autumnVoid1138]

Ahh Clint great video always nice to get a notification that a new tech tales video has been posted , perfect timing for my coffee and vanilla brioche bread before work 🙂

[@TheRic89]

This was because they didn’t update the microcode of a storage device. Mainframes run the financial world. Part of their strengths is that new IBM systems are compatible and can run assembler code from 50 years ago. No one is running 60 year old mainframes. They have new systems like a z14 that are software compatible to the original system 360

[@slickstretch6391]

The article you show at 2:50 is a actually a pretty interesting read about how the IRS calculated tax returns in the 50's.

[@theprincesspeach94]

This is so coool! Not about the crashing but I’ve never seen such large machines outside a video game! It’s amazing to think how big computers were back in the day now you can have one the size of your hand!

[@crashk6]

NEWS FLASH: "IRS losses millions in cash, due to a bug in cache.."

[@TracksWithDax]

NEWS FLASH: "IRS's last clash passes with a hard-and-fast loss of cash, due to internal lash of low-class located in cache..."

[@kendramarie6924]

It’s nothing to them they get it back

[@AceGamer445]

LGR, while I may not browse to every web page you have listed in the description pane, I do appreciate that you have referenced the sources you had used for this video.

[@shortshotgunman5582]

"Even if this building was filled with hay it would put the fear of god in all of us."

[@Videoneer]

Thank you so much bringing Tech Tales back!! I know it's an absolutely massive undertaking for yoo produce one of these accurately and I (among many others) absolutely appreciate it and sincerely enjoy these videos! Thanks man for all of your hard and awesome work!!! Today I learned something new :)

[@carlospulpo4205]

IF assets > income DO_Audit ELSE Do_Audit END IF STOP RUN.

[@BichaelStevens]

IRS when you owe 12$: if (debt > 0) { Audit() } IRS when they owe you $14000 in tax returns and fuckups: while (true) { return 0; }

[@MarcosCodas]

While this whole episode's topic is super, super interesting, I'm almost as fascinated by the level and sheer amount of research you've done to do it justice. Dang, this one goes far, far back and Clint sure don't mind. Impressive! Loved this episode.

[@StewartRussell]

More of a story about contractors failing to patch hardware drivers from 2016 than problems with reliable code from the 1960s

[@DeagleGuero]

I'm a CPA so this video was particularly fascinating for me. Thanks for creating this!

[@Henchman1977]

Everytime Clint says IMF I think Mission Impossible.

[@KnuxKitsune]

I'm glad I'm not alone. "The IMF was created in the '60s" you say? The TV series began in 1966

[@MetalTrabant]

I think of International Monetary Fund...

[@GregoryKowalkowski]

Raw to the core comprehensive & detailed material from #LGR @LGR - magnitude better than anything aired on television theses days. Thak You very much for time well spent!

[@sh4dowde]

We have some old servers in our company, no one dares to touch. They are from the 80s and you have to use their databases through old telnet interfaces. They were so scared to replace them, that when a new computer system came to replace it, they didn't dare and made the new system get it's core data from the old system and keep it synchronized between them... we are one of germany's top10 biggest companys and I fear the day this system fails.

[@NickOfTime99]

The Tech Tales segment on your channel is quickly becoming my favorite, and it has really evolved well! Well done Sir. I never knew the information about tax return processing could be so fascinating.

[@rwdplz1]

The project John Titor's IBM 5100 was going to be used to fix

[@tommylakindasorta3068]

I prefer to use mine strictly for time travel purposes.

[@NoNameAtAll2]

El. Psy. Kongroo

[@gregorybentley5192]

So happy Tech tales are back! This has always been some of my favorite content of yours. Thank you again!

[@denelson83]

They had to COBOL together a working solution.

[@JohnSmith-ii3cu]

CADE2 had an initial implementation date of 2014. It was supposed to reach major functionality by 2023. It isn't expected to come fully online until 2030. Maybe. At this rate, we'll all be gone before the IMF is fully replaced. IBM and Northrop Grumman are probably doing pretty well financially on this project though.

[@ZipplyZane]

What's really important is that Congress is trying to pass a law saying that the IRS will not be allowed to provide free tax filing.

[@hazeldavis3176]

You did a good job putting this one together. Transitioning from VO to old footage was smooth and natural.

[@manfrommars3486]

Just look at all those Model M's!!! (And some Model F's, as well!!!). Sorry, just a few more "!"'s to reinforce the concept: !!! !!!

[@compuzeme]

I never thought I would watch an entertaining video about taxes. Thanks LGR!!

[@JimFortune]

COBOL was out of date when I started programming in the 70s.

[@natemara6285]

I live and work in Cincinnati, and I walk past the IRS building almost every day on my way to work, and sometimes I even walk though it via the Skywalk system. I never realized that it was the site of the first e-filing computers back in the 1980s. Thanks for the video Clint.

[@Vontux]

Rushing software patches never ends well, as long as they are working on it I'm totally cool with it taking them a few years to move off of the current system. Doing it properly is much more important than doing it quickly.

[@Rezic]

I love how in your year update video you said your Tech Tales don't get views; only to do one on taxes. That should turn things around xD Seriously though, I love Tech Tales please keep 'em coming!

[@LGR]

I've accepted that they won't get the big views, so I'm just gonna cover what interests me the most instead :)

[@Rezic]

​@@LGR As it should be! Can't wait for more; keep it up!

[@peterjessen1984]

good job IRS. Really outdid yourselves there.

[@jhoughjr1]

Murderducky government efficiency

[@urielc918]

Outdated*

[@Mrmando369]

Nope it's the government keep cutting funds

[@robertpryor7225]

"Gots to admit, they are fair and efficient" - Adolph H.

[@賈斯汀霍利迪]

I absolutely love your Tech Tales series! Please do more of these soon.

[@yumann]

BRAVO! Talks about taxes and IRS are boring. LGR: Hold my beer.

[@jackfroste]

We need a part 2 to this video if and when the IRS computers crash next week. Great work Clint.

[@SinisterPuppy]

Wow never knew this and only live 15min away from Martinsburg. :O Thanks for the video.

[@39Chevy]

Oh man! Do you ever check GSA auctions for old stuff?

[@RoseLexThorne]

Someone else from the area! Grew up around there, and when I saw the title, I didn't think he could mean THAT Martinsburg. It's just awesome to see, and a new fun fact about Martinsburg to know! Makes like... Two I know of.

[@sski]

Pretty cool video, LGR! I used to live in Martinsburg and know exactly where all this went down. Another cool thing is back in the early 1980s I used to work for Spencer Gifts in their corporate catalog cover printing facility in Linwood, NJ. Our industrial laser printers were run by an IBM 360 mainframe.

[@darksepheroth4627]

Please do one about the history of woodgrain electronics called Teak Tales.

[@outtheredude]

I'll need to pause that video frequently to pee, get married, have kids, get put in a retirement home, ... 'cause '70s. ;-)

[@akeeperofoddknowledge4956]

I learned computer programming on an IBM 1130 system with an 8K memory, from 1969 - 1972 while in high school. FORTRAN IV was the programming language we learned. In the Navy, I operated a UNIVAC ANUY 7, COBOL based system. As a civilian I operated 2 NCR systems, the last being the Centurian, COBOL based system. Operating main-frames was fun, frustrating and challenging! Making it through an entire 8 hour shift, problem free was a rare occasion ! Of course, a typical laptop today could run rings around that old technology, but they're nowhere near as challenging! Enter a word or 2 and voila! File found! Really enjoyed this video! Thanks for sharing!

[@compaqdeskpro5770]

Nuclear launch facilities have the same ancient hardware that is still used to launch the nukes if we have to, McLaren needs a specific Compaq LTE laptop from the 90's in order to interface with the F1's ECU, I know Visa relies on an IBM mainframe in day to day business.

[@eskosaarinen7151]

This really is the best content youtube has, I really wish Clint had the time and resources to do more content likes this.

[@lashyndragon]

Colorado DMV/Clerk and recorders were using MS-DOS until a couple years ago and I thought that was bad...

[@boheyo]

@@EberKlaushartinger Yeah who doesn't love waiting for 30 year old software to slooowly mulch data at the DMV?

[@oestrek]

Probably the best thing I have seen from you in a while. Keep up the good work we need more of this.

[@doctorcrankyflaps1724]

All that computing equipment for 20kb of memory. Madness.

[@RemixedVoice]

Yep. And it's funny, because in 50 years, we'll be laughing at the 5 petabytes of data that was just collected to create the first black hole image; we'll have that amount of data capacity in our flash drives.

[@outtheredude]

I know. My Amstrad CPC 464 from 1984 has more free memory, and can still process those tax returns around 16-20 times faster. ;-)

[@skeeter21able]

We come for the woodgrain, we stay for Clint's hypnotic voice. The videos are an added bonus for us all. Clint is all we need.

[@jeenkzk5919]

It’s nice to see the IRS get screwed for a change! But seriously, a great video!

[@MikeJackman]

This is great. My dad worked on the e-file program in the mid to late 80s. I remember him flying to Cincinnati every other week for years. This explains why!

[@jonnyboi9026]

3:52 Does anybody know who this is? He sounds familiar

[@bengineer8]

*wants to know who he is too*

[@michaelburns8073]

It was very familiar to me also, it had me thinking it was of one of the famous news shows. I only watched a few back in the day, but I was certain about this voice being from one of those. Sure enough, it's Harry Reasoner, from 60 minutes (www.cbsnews.com/news/irs-monster-computer-circa-1970/) I suspect this was the clip where Clint took some of the video. He always had this very folksy, easy going way of telling a story (I used to enjoy him and Charles Kuralt voices).

[@jmcool5502]

Great video with one minor complaint. They are not emulating the System/360 code. IBM z/Architecture is backwards compatible and able to run the System/360 machine language natively. One of IBM mainframes strengths is its ability to run code for all predecessors natively. It's like running 8086 code on a 386 or 486, but IBM does it better.