A user on TikTok has gone viral after showing the computers at one of his customer’s offices.
In a video with over 935,000 views, tech influencer @lotsaplots shows an array of computers, each of them out of date and using the Windows 2000 operating system.
“…They’re using the latest technology from 1999,” says @lotsaplots at the beginning of the video.
@lotsaplots scary day (stupid server!) #Windowsnt #oldtechnology #oldtech #servercrash😂 #servercrash #techtok #tektok ♬ original sound – lotsaplots
The video shows several computers, including one Dell machine and another Hewlett-Packard computer. One has a CRT (cathode-ray tube) monitor.
“The operating system that it is running is Windows NT 2000,” he explains of the Hewlett-Packard machine. “And they actually use it! Really, they use this.”
While the operating system may be old, it was actually supported by Microsoft until 2010.
Furthermore, workplaces using out-of-date operating systems is not uncommon. According to Forbes, who cite a 2019 study by networking company Spiceworks, “one in three companies surveyed are still running at least one Windows XP machine within their network.”
TikTok viewers shared their love for the video and offered their own tales of vintage software in the creator’s comments section.
“I had a CPA firm running on Windows 98. I had to virtualize it on a Windows 10 computer so they could get migrated and upgraded to the latest,” one user wrote.
“I quit a temp to permanent job, because they were using XP to run their entire plant,” another added. “I didn’t see a future.”
“I went to a house the other day they were using Windows 95,” a third claimed.
“I worked at a ‘state of the art’ 911 center that ran on windows 2000 on their phone computers until 2020,” another TikToker stated.
While the video may have been fun, TikTokers shared in @lotsaplots’ frustration with having to deal with such machines.
As one user put it, “As a nostalgic computer geek, this is so awesome. As a tech, this is such a nightmare.”
Update 9:44am CT, Oct. 18: In an TikTok DM exchange with Daily Dot, @lotsaplots gave more context about the video.
“The office has at least one PC running Windows 2000 and another running Windows XP. Those computers attached to a server via emulation. It’s just a text window that works over the network. That is why they are able to keep using such old software,” he explains.
While this may technically work, there are significant issues that come with running such a setup.
“There are major security concerns using operating systems that old,” @lotsaplots notes. “Firstly, there are no active antivirus programs that work on anything that old. Secondly, security holes are operating systems that old are very well known and can be exploited easily. They have a good firewall in place, so that will help keep unauthorized people out. Another problem is that the server is so old that it could fail and they would be down for quite a while until something could be rebuilt from backups. They have never tested that scenario, so they are swimming and dangerous waters.”
