Dick,
You were told that TAAATS supported MSAW with a manual? insert of LSALT. You were told, or asumed, incorrectly.
Ferris is correct. The TAAATS MSAW is a crude blunt instrument. It cannot use proprietary terrain databases, it must have one constructed within its own software parameters. This has entailed thousands of hours of work by the DATA section in years past. The maintenance of the data equally requires hours of input (don't forget we are talking about obstacles as well as terrain, and obstacles change). Toalter this would require serious changes to the software, and probably involve changes to the way the software works for some of the other alerts. Someone mentioned 15 million dollars, and that would be well in the ball park. However, the greater obstacle would be getting the manufacturer to actually get a viable revised tool on line. Look at the posts elsewhere which make reference to Version 12 and 13, etc. It's a joke.
Secondly, you say that all that is required is a simple procedure.
Let's follow that through ON THE TAAATS EQUIPMENT.
A pilot is on descent and the MSAW erupts. The aural alarm sounds and keeps on sounding. The label flashes and gets a bright highlighted border.
The controller responds, challenges the aircraft, who says'i'm visual' or 'my God, you're right!'. The situation is resolved, the controller acknowledges the alert, the nagging sound stops, the label stops flashing but retains its bright border until the track disappears. System works.
Now in the next case, the aircraft is on descent, above the LSALT, and reports 'Visual' (your simple procedure). The controller acknowledges the pilot, reaches for his trusty mouse, and, in Dickworld, clicks on the track and cancels the looming MSAW alert. Lovely!
However, in the TAAATS world, the controller can click all he likes, he can't cancel the alert that he knows is coming, nor can he reliably and quickly notate a 'Visual' on the track. He then has to attend to a number of other calls elsewhere, and suddenly the MSAW activates on the aircraft that is visual. Short-term memory problem. Did he report visual, or was that the other bloke at Taree? He calls the aircraft - no response, gone to CTAF. He now has an alert he can't resolve, or if he can, still has the highlighted track.
Multiply this a few times and you will see that alert desenitivation will be a real possibility. A few years ago, there were some serious incidents where this reduced affect of alerts was a major factor.
This is the situation with TAAATS as it is, and as its likely to remain for the foreseeable future, EVEN IF THE BIG BUCKS WERE ALLOCATED.
This is not resistance to change, it is REALITY.