Computing Dictionary
legacy system definition
jargon A computer system or
application program which continues to be used because of the cost of replacing or redesigning it and often despite its poor competitiveness and compatibility with modern equivalents. The implication is that the system is large, monolithic and difficult to modify.
If legacy software only runs on antiquated
hardware the cost of maintaining this may eventually outweigh the cost of replacing both the software and hardware unless some form of
emulation or
backward compatibility allows the software to run on new hardware.
(1998-08-09)
