Swimmer Posted September 20, 2004 CID Share Posted September 20, 2004 Microsoft software caused air traffic shutdown September 20 2004 by Rupert Goodwins Someone forgot to reboot... A bug in a Microsoft system compounded by human error was ultimately responsible for a three-hour radio breakdown that left hundreds of aircraft aloft without guidance on Tuesday, according to a report in the LA Times. Nearly all of Southern California's airports were shut down and five incidents where aircraft broke separation guidelines were reported. In one case, a pilot had to take evasive action. The newspaper said that a Microsoft-based replacement for an older Unix system needed to be reset every thirty days 'to prevent data overload', as a result of problems found when the system was first rolled out. However, a technician failed to perform the reset at the right time and an internal clock within the system subsequently shut it down. A back-up system also failed. Richard Riggs, an advisor to the technicians union, said the FAA - the American aviation regulator - had been planning to fix the program for some time. "They should have done it before they fielded the system," he said. To prevent a reoccurrence of the problem before the software glitch is fixed, Laura Brown, an FAA spokeswoman, said the agency plans to install a system that would issue a warning well before shutdown. Microsoft UK was not immediately available for comment. Source: Silicon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luwigie Posted September 20, 2004 CID Share Posted September 20, 2004 LOL, first BSODs on airport flight schedule monitors, and now this. It's like "Oh shit! I didn't see that 747 coming and I almost hit it!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lorne Posted September 20, 2004 CID Share Posted September 20, 2004 Typical Microsoft, don't people know to that they should have a techy attached to the side of anything microsoft?? Because something like this happening is inevitable with Microsoft products Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swimmer Posted September 20, 2004 Author CID Share Posted September 20, 2004 i guess it just rebooted on its own.. that is nice.. Thank you Microsoft.. he is $15,000 to fix the problem.. by the way will you be patching this software any time soon so that a hacker cant take over it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VanBuren Posted September 20, 2004 CID Share Posted September 20, 2004 There are three engineers in a car; an electrical engineer, a chemical engineer and a Microsoft engineer. Suddenly the car just stops by the side of the road, and the three engineers look at each other wondering what could be wrong. The electrical engineer suggests stripping down the electronics of the car and trying to trace where a fault might have occurred. The chemical engineeer, not knowing much about cars, suggests that maybe the fuel is becoming emulsified and getting blocked somewhere. Then, the Microsoft engineer, not knowing much about anything, comes up with a suggestion, "Why don`t we close all the windows, get out, get back in, open the windows again, and maybe it`ll work !?" VanBuren Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobra Posted September 20, 2004 CID Share Posted September 20, 2004 :lol: LOL!! :lol: I really hope this opens up Microsofts eyes to tell them to start, oh, i dont know, testing their software to make sure everything, you know, works. Plus, it's gotta be user-friendly- didn't they realize someone like me would come along, slack off, and end up forgetting to reset? Pssh- Microsoft sucks. My computer crashes like every twenty minutes and all I can do is restart it and have that crappy error-check thing that does nothing but verify folders... Here's a link to a flash windows xp computer- its hilarious! try out every program and option! http://www.funnypart.com/funny_flash/windows_xp.shtml Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shug7272 Posted September 21, 2004 CID Share Posted September 21, 2004 With all the machines in all the world that runs MS products, I would say beside a few publised problems they are doing ok. Then again I guess they dont have to do ok since Bill has enough money to buy the press and only let them report good things if he needs to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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