this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2024
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Windows 3.1 saves the day during CrowdStrike outage — Southwest Airlines scrapes by with archaic OS (www.tomshardware.com)
submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/technology
109 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Southwest Airlines, the fourth largest airline in the US, is seemingly unaffected by the problematic CrowdStrike update that caused millions of computers to BSoD (Blue Screen of Death) because it used Windows 3.1. The CrowdStrike issue disrupted operations globally after a faulty update caused newer computers to freeze and stop working, with many prominent institutions, including airports and almost all US airlines, including United, Delta, and American Airlines, needing to stop flights.

Windows 3.1, launched in 1992, is likely not getting any updates. So, when CrowdStrike pushed the faulty update to all its customers, Southwest wasn’t affected (because it didn’t receive an update to begin with).

The airlines affected by the CrowdStrike update had to ground their fleets because many of their background systems refused to operate. These systems could include pilot and fleet scheduling, maintenance records, ticketing, etc. Thankfully, the lousy update did not affect aircraft systems, ensuring that everything airborne remained safe and were always in control of their pilots.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Windows 3.1 doesn't even come with a TCP/IP stack. It's actually pretty safe.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 months ago (1 children)

As long as that's the exact version they're using. Windows for workgroups 3.11 has networking.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Yep. I remember - despite the fact it was old even then - building and connecting a Win 3.11 machine to a TCP/IP office network as a proof of concept back in 2000 or so. I might have even installed Netscape on it. I don't remember clearly now, but I assume the parts for the computer came out of the spares pile, and were soon recycled back into other machines.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

Bold of you to assume any of the "experts" writing about this know what a TCP/IP stack is