Windows strikes AGAIN

[Boomzilla]

Well, Windows shut down half the world yesterday. Airplanes couldn't fly, banks couldn't pay or receive, Emergency response services shut down, etc. etc. etc. Now, to be fair, this wasn't entirely Microsoft's fault. It was CrowdStrike (a "security" firm) whose update caused the damage. But it illustrates the fragility of the base OS (again). Not very long ago, the advice of IT professionals was "There are two types of Windows users - those who have lost data and those who will." The results of the CrowdStrike update - the dreaded (but all too familiar) "Blue screen of death."

Are Linux, Unix, or Apple OS-X perfect? No, they aren't. But most of the world doesn't run on them. The best security is diversity. If you put all your eggs in one (Windows) basket, then you deserve what you get. These days, data sharing protocols are robust for inter-system communication, and more secure operating systems are readily available.

[marcl]

Jul 20, 2024 8:37:35 GMT -5 Boomzilla said:

Well, Windows shut down half the world yesterday. Airplanes couldn't fly, banks couldn't pay or receive, Emergency response services shut down, etc. etc. etc. Now, to be fair, this wasn't entirely Microsoft's fault. It was CrowdStrike (a "security" firm) whose update caused the damage. But it illustrates the fragility of the base OS (again). Not very long ago, the advice of IT professionals was "There are two types of Windows users - those who have lost data and those who will." The results of the CrowdStrike update - the dreaded (but all too familiar) "Blue screen of death."

Are Linux, Unix, or Apple OS-X perfect? No, they aren't. But most of the world doesn't run on them. The best security is diversity. If you put all your eggs in one (Windows) basket, then you deserve what you get. These days, data sharing protocols are robust for inter-system communication, and more secure operating systems are readily available.

Yes but ... general thinking is if the world moved to Linux, Unix or OS-X the problems would follow.  Hackers and malware creators would be motivated to focus on those platforms.  But more importantly ... THIS outage was caused by the CrowdStrike update ... and that update was created by software development teams, which clearly did not have a robust testing and deployment process.

I'll put my (retired) software quality and Agile development coach hat on briefly ....  I managed teams that created very solid, maintainable software; and I managed teams that were unable to do that due to interference from senior management that insisted on imposing unrealistic deadlines, impossible budgets, and at times threats.  Ultimately, there are software development processes that are capable of producing robust, maintainable software ... IF senior management chooses to allow them to be deployed.

[vcautokid]

It's not Windows. Geez, can't believe I am saying that. It was Crowdstrike with their schiit C-00000921 update that borked almost the whole world. I want to blame Microsoft believe me. They suck so bad Dyson is suing. But it was not them. Beside want me to schiit on Apple? Here you go. 11 years to plug up a dangerous exploit in Safari? It goes on and on. They all suck to a greater or lesser degree. Because it has to be all things to all people as one reason. You want stability, you want security? Stop being nice to everyone and one purpose one machine. Pretty dumb right? Of course it is. I work in IT and trying to get out by the way and back into AV production like I should. Ask my Church. They love me. Dude with a lens in his face.

Everybody wants it all, so it is easy to bork it. Crowdstrike is not the first thing or time. Or did we forget the schiit show from Solarwinds already? Sure I am looking at Linux, BSD Unix, and so on, but I am sure anywhere I go, it will be like The Three Stooges in form or another. I shake my head everyday on the stupid I see in my Medical job I have.

Joke is. For everyone else it takes 3 steps up to get to your doorway. Simple. Robust, even got no slip on the steps because I am nice. Easy right? Medical to get to the same place? 50 steps. I hung around developers and product programmers. I was like their old 12 year kid in a Candy store seeing the neat stuff they would create. Theme? Simple Elegance. Heard Big Dan say those 2 words allot. So it comes down to what can we get that is Robust? Well personally I never had any issues with any Linux Distro I flew. It was/is a matter of what works. For fun I still make fun of Windows Bob. Many of my friends still spit out their coffee all over the place when I start talking about that.

Apple had their share of doing the stupid dance, or did we forget Newton already, and their dumb digital cameras. I wish George Carlin was still alive and his scrappy fast and sensible self, not that sad to see slowness before he left us. Put his sensibilities into our tech. Or Dennis Hopper. Oh my God! What a wild party we would have.

So no, it wasn't the OS you can blame this time. It was some vendor being stupid and borking the world. I say sue their A$$ and make them pay. I asked my company since we use Crowdstrike, not sure what brain trust thought that was a great idea. But I know he is digging a hole to jump into. All of my IT team was pissed and I had never seen such a schiit show since Solarwinds happening here.

Ending on as positive note. I fixed 2 of my colleague's computers by eliminating that said above file from. Was a *bleep* to do too. I got the longest tightest hug in my life. She almost started crying she was so happy. So not all bad came from a vendor borking the world.

[Boomzilla]

You miss my point. ANY operating system can be hacked. ANY bad software update that runs on ALL your machines can have global effects. If you want true security, you need diverse operating systems and diverse software that can share information without all being affected by the failure or corruption of a single node. That makes IT a total nightmare, and it definitely slows data transfer, but it protects against global system failures like we saw with ClownStrike.

I think some military systems use this idea, but, apparently, it is time for the private sector to consider it too?

[vcautokid]

You have to remember as a result of compromises made ultimate security and robustness and capability will not exist. Digital tail chasing. You do the best you can, and move on. Private sector is well put this way. "A person is intelligent, people are dumb". Agent K I believe. Totally get it because you and I do this stuff. I work with Idiots who think their monitor counts as a computer so now they have 3 computers. Not even making this up. We are in a culture of technically stupid people. Agent K again.

I am all for multi boot what OS do you want today to carry on with your life. Average Mom and Pops? Yeah you have fun with that. Not disagreeing just flying reality here.

[Boomzilla]

"A person is intelligent; people are dumb" - How right you are, vcautokid! I was once called to the HR manager's office. She complained that her computer was too slow. Glancing at her screen, I noticed six or seven programs running in the background. I said, "Loretta, you'll need to get some of this stuff off your desktop." She replied "OK," and then turned the power switch off...

[brubacca]

For over 20 years I've wanted Linux to be a viable option at home. Started with a paid version of Caldera Linux... Installed and build many PCs for the purpose of running Linux. Tried Fedora, Manjaro, Ubuntu, Mandriva and a few others like puppy Linux. I want their to be a better. Heck I even tried IBM OS/2..... Not a Mac guy either.. There is always a gotcha that keeps me away (from using Linus long term).

Now it would be Roon (client), Fusion 360 and my Bamboo Labs slicer...

World is run by computers and we are at their mercy. Anyone miss the days when we didn't have cell phones or the internet. You paid with Cash or Check and maybe you had a credit card for emergencies.

[geebo]

Jul 20, 2024 11:08:22 GMT -5 brubacca said:

For over 20 years I've wanted Linux to be a viable option at home. Started with a paid version of Caldera Linux... Installed and build many PCs for the purpose of running Linux. Tried Fedora, Manjaro, Ubuntu, Mandriva and a few others like puppy Linux. I want their to be a better. Heck I even tried IBM OS/2..... Not a Mac guy either.. There is always a gotcha that keeps me away (from using Linus long term).

Now it would be Roon (client), Fusion 360 and my Bamboo Labs slicer...

World is run by computers and we are at their mercy. Anyone miss the days when we didn't have cell phones or the internet. You paid with Cash or Check and maybe you had a credit card for emergencies.

I have a dual boot system with Linux Mint and Windows 11. I use Linux 90% of the time but still need Windows for a few things like Photoshop.

[Boomzilla]

Windows is a necessity for some software, as you point out, geebo. I had to use it for a program called PHA-Pro. But it blows my mind that any large company (like an airline, for example) would run Windows software for mission-critical work. Any company that size could afford to design their own OS & software or could find a company to do it for them (and then buy that company). If it were my airline, I wouldn't want my entire business to be dependent on any third-party vendor.

[405x5]

My daughter lost over 9 hours in delays…..stuck in an airport by Cocoa Beach ( that’s how I found out about this). Connecting flight canceled. She is getting some compensation from work fortunately.

[AudioHTIT]

I have a Windows VM on my Mac just so I can run Visio, which I’ve been using over 30 years, and first came out with MSDOS-6!

[klinemj]

While I understand your point on diversity in OS's, there's a big challenge in that. Having different OS's around means there's a need to ensure different softwares (like word processors, spreadsheets, and apps) work across them seamlessly. While that's not such a big deal for the big players (like MS for Excel, Word, etc), there are a lot of smaller but useful softwares/apps we all use. For those, it's more of a burden so we'd get fewer of those or get them slower.

These global crashes are so infrequent and so short in lifespan that I'd rather face the risk of one of them impacting me than facing other issues.

Mark (PS - I totally missed the whole issue due to being off the internet for a week anyway!)