[Novalug] Windows on Warships

Jason novalug@jasons.us
Sat Jun 9 23:18:47 EDT 2007


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John Warren wrote:
> I had heard that the scariest thing about the Windows for Warships
> program was that, "BAE told the UK powers that be that while they
> had evaluated Solaris, AIX, HP-UX they found W2K to be more stable
> and secure".  I heard this from a retired Rear Admiral, so I think
> it might actually have some truth to it.
>
I have little doubt that BAE told the UK decision-makers that was
true.  What I doubt is that it actually *is* true.  In my dealings
with the major military contractors they do everything as cheaply as
absolutely possible.  Considering the cost of Unix/Linux programmers
and admins versus Windows programmers and admins I'm sure using win2k
saved them a bundle.

One other crucial point that the story in Theregister missed is the
fact that they're now beholden to a 3rd party where they can't be
guaranteed to have access to the OS code. Even if Microsoft gave them
code to look at how can they prove that's the code running in the
warships?  At least with an open-source or custom OS they can compile
it themselves to make sure they're getting what they think they are.
Doing anything else with a life and death system, especially one like
this, is sheer insanity IMHO.

- -Jason

- --
   --- There are no absolute statements.  I'm very probably wrong. ---
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its
limits."
                                        - Albert Einstein
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