Nuclear Subs Now Run on Windows

[xyster]

Microsoft Windows is powering the Royal Navy's nuclear-armed submarine fleet; giving all new meaning to the Blue Screen of Death

Nuclear Subs Now Run on Windows : Read more

 

[gm0n3y]

Oh good, "Launch torpedoes!", "I can't captain, I got a damn BSOD.", "****".

 

[dcoaster]

Cue the Windows bashers...

 

[resonance451]

Jesus, when will we get rid of the propaganda? The Windows OS is not inherently unstable, definitely not more so than a lot of competing OS.

 

[squatchman]

The machines will be isolated and I'm sure they're going to be locked down, so as long as some mouth-breather doesn't decide to bring his iPod to work and hook it in to the sub then there shouldn't be any problem.

That said, I really hope that they have failsafe controls in place in case their retrofit goes bad.

 

[brendano257]

I thought they would use Windows in prisons because it's soooo good at locking up....tehehehe ^_^

 

[gm0n3y]

I'm sure its will be as reliable as whatever they were using before, but I'm sure eventually, one day, somebody on one of the ships will get a BSOD and everyone will make fun of M$ for it. I was just beating them to the punch.

 

[rocky1234]

I am sorry but the torpedo you want to launch can not happen right now because windows has recovered from a error & needs to reboot thank & have a nice day.

 

[daft]

and they couldnt get Ubuntu or debian why?

 

[squatchman]

Believe it or not daft, sometimes(especially dealing in political circles) you have to purchase software due to contractual obligation. I'm not saying it's right.

 

[ckthecerealkiller]

I've built many a computer and the only time I have ever encountered a problem was bad software or hardware conflicting with the fine and dandy OS. The problem is that people think Windows is so user friendly that you should be able to do whatever they want with it. /endrant

Anyway, I would love to see what they have done with this. It's a step in the right direction if you ask me.

 

[fonzy]

"Sir I can't launch torpedo's" ...."I thought you fixed that problem when you installed SP2"..."I did but now the targeting system is down."

 

[nebun]

here comes WW 3

 

[nebun]

just think of how many of our naval boats and subs already use windows. no problems, but then again, who knows.

 

[dcoaster]

[citation][nom]daft[/nom]and they couldnt get Ubuntu or debian why?[/citation]

Because Ubuntu is the most unstable OS I have ever used.

 

[gm0n3y]

Hopefully no malcontent at M$ has put in a backdoor to controlling the world's navy.

 

[Guest]

This could give a whole new meaning to "This program has preformed an illegal operation."

 

[Pei-chen]

Switch to MS = 25% cost reduction. Switch to Apple = 25% cost increase and limited to Soviet era hardware.

 

[Guest]

This is so wrong at so many levels I am not sure where to begin. And it does not have anything with OS stability or anything related to computers, but rather human nature. Now any operator, unknowingly and due to serious neglect (or moment of dumbness, inebriation, or whatnot) can sneak aboard e.g. an USB stick with some porn or whatever, infected with some sort of malware. God know what it can do when it starts spreading. Before, with custom system, you simply did not have the possibility of consumer-grade viruses to roam through submarine computers. Now you have to implement and enforce just another layer of staff regulations that are, as always, prone to violation, just to be safe from something you had before as a given.

 

[pocketdrummer]

I agree with the guy above. Linux would have been the best choice... and I'm a windows/mac user. Free costs much less than even $.01 per OS. Oh, and you can pretty much tweak it to whatever means necessary. Not to mention, Linux is known for it's stability.

 

[gm0n3y]

Since when did Toms turn into a windows fanboy site anyways? I get that everyone hates Apple, but how does that turn everyone towards M$?

 

[Joe_The_Dragon]

Clippy says It looks like you are trying to shoot a torpedo do you need help?

 

[squatchman]

Well now, if we look at the other options:

Linux: You only need to edit three configuration files and recompile the kernel source to get to the mission area. A scant twenty or thirty commands from the console. Easy!

OS X: Firing is as easy as either hitting the Command-shift-tab-5-backspace hotkey or finding the correct way to massage the mighty mouse. You can't aim that shot with current hardware, but that sub is gonna look great and that is all that matters.

 

[Tindytim]

I agree with the Linux comments. They could use off the shelf parts AND a free OS. They could even create a special distro.

[citation][nom]gm0n3y[/nom]Since when did Toms turn into a windows fanboy site anyways? I get that everyone hates Apple, but how does that turn everyone towards M$?[/citation]
Did you read the article on the future of the Desktop market? The Apple fanaticism was so pungent that people with ageusia could taste it.

 

[pooflinger1]

To everyone speculating about USB drives, do you seriously think any of the designers would be stupid enough to leave an exposed USB port? And even if they did leave one open, what's to stop that same person from running a malicious script on linux or osx?