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About LinkBacksRead more.Screens inside the control room of the ship were seen running the 2001 vintage OS.
Read more.Screens inside the control room of the ship were seen running the 2001 vintage OS.
They may well be paying for extended support still. However, the OS still uses SMBv1 only, amongst other old fashioned protocols. She was laid down at the time Windows 7 was launching, so there's really no excuse at all.
We are being attacked, fire back all stations. WTF BLUE SCREEN!!! Abandon ship...
Hexus dropping into the gutter of Tabloid click bait headlines.
It's quite common for military systems to use modified/heavily locked down versions of older software.
Yeah the papers didn't really cover this well :/
Surprised to see it pop up in amongst Hexus.
Whereas Windows 10 would decide this was a perfect time to apply an OS updateOriginally Posted by fynxer
Really, these things should be running a hardened embedded Linux, not some consumer junk.
Like the nuclear launch systems that rely on 8 inch floppies? It's a path to obsolete un-maintainable systems.
Edit: This was the article I was thinking of, makes Windows XP seem rather up to date... https://arstechnica.co.uk/informatio...8-inch-floppy/
Last edited by DanceswithUnix; 28-06-2017 at 11:53 AM.
This article doesn't say it's running consumer XP though. Neither does the Guardian one it links to. It doesn't even say that it is running XP, just that it "appeared to be".
In fact, the whole story is pretty much vapour. "I saw a screen showing something that looks like Windows XP" isn't particularly convincing evidence. You could run ReactOS and manage that...
no internet/external access, no trouble for the system
Saracen (29-06-2017)
In practice, with Hi-tec equipment, which takes years of testing and IQ/OQ/PQ procedures, are you going to:
A) Use an older software (heavily locked down), which s tried, tested and rock solid, or
B) The latest greatest software, that is changing all the time, not tried and tested.
Even if they were using say Win 10, they would be stuck to using version XXXX and not update it, as the updates would not of been through IQ/OQ/PQ.
They are using Win XP as the amount of time it takes to make sure that all systems are rock solid means they cannot jump onto the latest and greatest as they are not tested.
This is not like a computer game, which if you load into Win 10 and it crashes, you go "oh well!" and reboot. The software and operating system have to be tested to the Nth degree to make sure all is OK. That means older software. Cheers!
Saracen (29-06-2017)
The MOD procurement process is a joke. Just look at the debacle with the Eurofighter nose cannon. There's no excuse other than going for the cheap quick option for using Windows XP.
As for more like NASA, more like ESA...
With the amount of viruses around for XP, it surely would seem a more sensible option to go with Windows 7, however I can guarentee that no one in the MoD has tested it because almost every part of the government is adverse to IT and won't invest in the obvious. Realistically the best option would be a custom OS, but again, the cheap option (not the best) will always be chosen.
The combat system design would have been fixed before the keel was laid down - changes to design are very expensive and XP (of whatever flavour) will be running as an embedded system (like a train ticket machine for example) with connectivity only to devices on its internal network. It will have been tried and tested whereas Windows 7 will not have been - but if there are operational advantages in upgrading, that testing will be being done now for an upgrade in maybe two or three years time. But if XP is down the job - there is no need to upgrade.
Support will rest with the system designers, BAE systems - not Microsoft - as this will be an extreme OEM system.
Precisely so - and this will be very heavily locked down.
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Proof?
Theres nothing wrong with running a secure version of Windows XP. They probably have it running FAR more stable and securer than Windows 10 atm.
I thought this story had been debunked already? Just a 'joke' background seen on one of the test crew's laptop?
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I think I feel more comfortable with XP and an airgap than 10.
I also doubt that any version of Windows is actually running the systems that control the equipment. These will all be embedded systems and any Windows installations will be for running user-land interfaces to them.
Of course, it's not good if the UI for such systems gets hijacked or locked out, but subtly different.
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