British Navy Subs to run Windows

[Mandi]

OSS Torpedoed: Royal Navy will run on Windows

[Andilinks]

Vanguard class boats carry the UK's Trident thermo-nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles. So some people think that's a heap of responsibility for Windows to carry.

Wasn't there an old joke about not opening windows on a submarine?

Andi

[Syneryder]

I think more reason why I don't bother reading The Register anymore. Many of those arguments seem nonsense to me, they could apply to both Windows and BSD or Linux. The "closed source" argument seems silly too, since Microsoft has been making the Windows source available to selected groups anyway. I know universities and governments are two such groups, I imagine the military is another.

But of course, if their destroyer systems have stability problems it's not going to reflect at all well on Microsoft. And I've got to agree - if Windows isn't certified safe by Microsoft,why are they using it? But any organisation wanting to make a combat management system that uses a web browser probably has rocks in their head...

"Sorry, Macromedia Shockwave is not installed on this Destroyer"....

[Monty]

my Dad worked both the hardware and software sides on the Apollo missions for IBM, who was Nasa's contractor at that point for the big 360's. He swears to this day that had Apollo been running windows, it would never have been seen again. I sure hope the Brit's have a backup plan, lol.

[Wassercrats]

And I've got to agree - if Windows isn't certified safe by Microsoft,why are they using it?

I didn't follow Mandi's link yet, but at least Microsoft has Common Criteria certification.

[Syneryder]

Hehe, I like some of the quotes on that page:

CC validation doesn’t mean that Win2K is a secure operating system. Rather, it means that it’s a securable operating system. Just as an MCSE certification doesn’t guarantee that the holder is competent to administer Windows enterprise networks, the CC certification doesn’t guarantee that any implementation of Win2K is secure.

If you were going to install Windows on something like a warship, wouldn't you at least use some kind of slimmed down or "embedded" version of Windows? I still can't imagine they'd just use a retail version of Win2K Pro, but that seems to be what Gerald Wilson based his arguments on. Perhaps that's what they were planning after all.