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Windows Upgrade, FAA Error Cause LAX Shutdown
fname writes "The recent shutdown of LAX due to an FAA radio outage was apparently caused by a Windows 2000 integration flaw, possibility related to an old Windows 95 bug. An article at the LA Times claims that the outage was caused by human error, as the system will automatically shut down after 49.7 days (related to this Windows 95 flaw?), and a technician didn't reboot the system monthly as he should have. This happened after an upgrade from Unix to Windows. I don't think blame should be assigned to the technician who missed the task; rather, it seems a gross oversight for the FAA to guarantee that such a critical system will crash after only one missed maintenance task. Who's really at fault?"
I remember when the 49.7 day bug was discovered. That was right after I had just hit the 49.7 day freeze in an attempt to keep my personal machine alive as long as possible.
When it froze, I didn't know why until I read the story, just figured it finally gave up the ghost for no real reason. It was time for a reboot anyway, that system was hurtin' bad.
Why the hell the have a critical system running on an OS that can't stay up for at least 50 days, I do not know.
"With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine." -- RFC 1925
Oh, by all means, be the good consultant will you? Which of the raft of binary cruft which must compose the system was compiled with the wrong SDK? I'm sure everyone would love you to death if you could reach into the DLL hell and pull out the offending bits. The guy who's supposed to go and reboot the thing once a month will be especially pleased with how clever you are.
It's funny how people pointing their fingers at one or another potential causes think that mitigates how nasty M$ is as a platform. How pathetic a system is it that does not have reliable system timers? How much even more pathetic that someone's goofed timer can pull the whole system down. Oh, but it's a timer, see? No, it's just a "data overload" that will give traffic control incorrect information. How about they should have automated the reboot? As if you want faulty software deciding when it should stop giving your air traffic control info or you would trust it to come back up on it's own. The boss blamed his tech who missed the once a month reboot as if that was never going to happen. It's junk and you should not use it so it's not M$'s fault is my favorite though, right behind just don't use it.
The last two hit it on the head. M$, You have to be crazy to use it. Remember that the next time you think Winblows might be a reasonable candidate for anything. When the thing goes tits up, the blame gets put everywhere but and on you. So much for vendor support.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.