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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] 8 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Are you sure? I remember a long time ago being able to trigger a BSOD by opening Windows Calculator and dividing any number by 0. And I'm pretty sure that was 3.1 or 3.11.

In fact, I remember being able to change the color of the BSOD.

[–] EleventhHour 10 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

As another user mentioned, the BSOD first came in Windows NT 3.51.

But it definitely wasn’t in Windows 3.1 or Windows 3.11

[–] Psythik 0 points 5 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

The other user is wrong. I clearly remember the BSoD in Windows 3.1. You can find it easily with a simple web search. Here it is: Here it is.

Hell, there were even memes of it:

Edit: I provided proof and was still downvoted lol. This place is quickly turning into reddit.