this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2024
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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] 31 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Is this actually confirmed anywhere though? I keep seeing it repeated and the only 'source' is a ?xeet? .

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 months ago

Same, I'm pretty sure it's not true.

[–] [email protected] 76 points 5 months ago (5 children)

This... Doesn't make me feel any better about flying Southwest

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 months ago

because Boeing or why?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

i think you accedentaly put southwest instead of spirit.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 months ago

Spirit is already a non starter for me because my legs don't fit in the seat haha

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 months ago (1 children)

And they can play JezzBall.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago
[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago

This software is shit Bob! What should we do Bob?

Well Bob, we should find something compatible with shit!

Bob, I think I got it! I got this other shit software!

Genius Bob! Just Genius! 😎

[–] [email protected] 89 points 5 months ago (5 children)

Windows 3.1 didn’t have the BSOD. It just froze. I remember with Windows NT 4, when we first got the BSOD, being so grateful that Microsoft decided to actually tell us that our computer wasn’t going to recover from the error. Otherwise, we’d just be sitting there, waiting, hoping it would unfreeze itself.

It never did

[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Windows 3.1 did have a BSOD. It wasn't always fatal, you could try to hit enter to go back to Windows, but most of the time it wasn't really recoverable, Windows often wouldn't work right afterwards.

I ran into them all the time in 3.11 on our 486 which had some faulty RAM (the BSOD would even be scrambled). If we could get back to Windows after that, it'd just be in a zombie state where moving the mouse around would paint stuff over whatever was left on screen, and wouldn't respond to clicks or keypresses.

Fun times.

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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.

[–] [email protected] 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

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)
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[–] [email protected] 23 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Maybe don’t pay a company to install a rootkit on your critical infrastructure?

[–] [email protected] 23 points 5 months ago

Just open up your critical infrastructure to the public Internet and you’ll get rootkits for free.

[–] [email protected] 43 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Holy crap, they are serious. I though I was on [email protected] for a minute. I sure hope none of those computers are connected to the internet. There's a massive number of vulnerabilities in windows 3.1 and windows 95.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

The "source" is a tweet from a random dude, it's almost certainly not true.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

But how many people are looking for Windows 3.1 anything today?

Well I suppose now there might be more

[–] [email protected] 21 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Windows 3.1 doesn't even come with a TCP/IP stack. It's actually pretty safe.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 5 months ago (1 children)

As long as that's the exact version they're using. Windows for workgroups 3.11 has networking.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

Yep. I remember - despite the fact it was old even then - building and connecting a Win 3.11 machine to a TCP/IP office network as a proof of concept back in 2000 or so. I might have even installed Netscape on it. I don't remember clearly now, but I assume the parts for the computer came out of the spares pile, and were soon recycled back into other machines.

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[–] [email protected] 230 points 5 months ago (4 children)

Or, for your consideration, could it perhaps be because they don't use crowdstrike?

[–] [email protected] 59 points 5 months ago (1 children)

My Linux servers weren't affected either. I think it's because of Windows 3.1

[–] [email protected] 34 points 5 months ago (2 children)

My wife shared this with me yesterday, but I didn’t see it:

A joke tweet with an attached image of a smart refrigerator. The refrigerator displays a blue screen of death. The tweet reads “I can’t even open my fridge.” Another tweet is replying to it, taking it seriously and indicating they do not embrace smart technology.

Somebunny is gonna learn those things aren’t windows-based today!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)

My old thermostat was basically two teaspoons of mercury that would expand and contract with the temperature to short out two leads. They didn't let me keep it when I got a new one, but I got the dumbest one they had.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Just yesterday I had that exact "Tech enthusiast vs tech worker" meme play out. I wanted a timer to control the electrical outlet for an aquarium bubbler. Saleswoman really wanted to sell me this "smart" controller with an app that can program the outlet.

Me:"What happens when the app stops working?"

(saleswoman is frantically flipping the box over for answers)

Her:"...maybe...it keeps the existing timer?"

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 months ago (3 children)

For only way more time and money, you can buy a zigbee smart plug and a vendor agnostic zigbee hub flashed with FOSS, or you can buy a esp-based board, wire it up with a relay, and flash it with something like esphome.

Sure, it’s way more money and hours of work (cumulatively), but it won’t lose support!

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago (1 children)

I've got about six smart plugs that all stopped working because of lack of support. I am no longer interested in smart plugs.

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[–] [email protected] 74 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Yeah, what? 3.1 not getting updates has nothing to do with this. Software developed for 3.1 can still be updated. This article is just silly.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago

It isn't even a Windows update, but a software update.

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