[HLUG] Linux grabs its single biggest win

[Matthew Macdonald-Wallace]

I remember there being some consternation regarding "Windows for
Warships" when it was deployed as part of the guidance systems for
Surface to Air Missiles a few years back for the UK Navy's Destroyers:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/02/26/windows_boxes_at_sea/

Generally if you want a basic guide to IT and Defense then Lewis Page @
ElReg (theregister.co.uk) is worth a read.  He can get a bit
sensationalist, however he also tends to reveal the downfalls in
successive government's IT/Defence spending.

Kind regards,

Matt

On Wed, 2012-06-20 at 09:34 +0100, Alan Richmond wrote:
> http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/opensource/linux-grabs-its-single-biggest-win/3690?tag=nl.e550
> 
> I had to check the date on this article to make sure it wasn't April 
> 1st. If the author is reliable then my ignorance of the capabilities of 
> Windows - or of the people who deploy it on mission-critical real-time 
> (RT) systems - is profound. Apparently it was used on the US Air Force's 
> drone control system and got a virus..
> 
> As a scientific programmer I worked with many OSs that were used in RT 
> environments, nary a copy of Windows in sight. I think I've heard of NT 
> being used on supercomputers, but even then Linux dominates that sector. 
> Does anyone here know enough about Windows to explain its use in such a 
> scenario??
> 
> As the author says: "When I read this, I was shocked. First and 
> foremost, I couldn’t believe such planes were controlled by anything 
> powered with any flavor of the Windows operating system — not when the 
> U.S. Navy has enough intelligence and resources to even create their own 
> OS."
> 
> Alan.
> 
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