I wonder what the world would be like if that IBM source code which is the backbone for all financial transactions and payment gateways weren’t tightly controlled proprietary tech.
More fraud maybe, but less nickel and dime trickle upwards.
Obligatory fuck IBM they are largely patent trolls at this point adding zero value to anything.
Let’s not be too hard on them. They have a rich history of working all over the world in a variety of roles.
After all, what other company can you name that helped operate Japanese internment camps in America and Nazi Concentration camps at the same time?
The only thing of value at IBM now is Redhat. And there are a lot of people who aren’t happy with some of the decisions they made with Redhat.
What are you referencing specifically? I work in payments and I’ve never heard of this IBM code. The card networks just use an ISO format and every front end is different (the two we have are completely different in very fundamental ways though they are definitely both old as fuck).
If you could set me up with some texts or resources on programming a cashier till, or maybe even a bank, and a complete payment gateway that will be able to process debit transactions, which does not require an IBM package, then I would be eternally grateful. Like really beyond grateful.
When trying to research this online or asking people who work in the field everyone seems to say you buy the framework from IBM and build on top of it. Everywhere. All roads lead to Rome.
I think part of the popularity of Blockchain is that its pretty much the only alternative system of sending monetary value.
It’s not that you can’t. It’s that it’s an extremely high risk venture, IBM’s code is proven, it would cost way more to make the code yourself, and you’re going to need like a decade to prove it works well before you get enough trust in it to work with business to business stuff.
So everyone buys the proven code to avoid the headaches.
