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Story: Microsoft software implicated in air traffic shutdown

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Since you have to reboot the system, that's a flaw in the underlying OS as well as the application. This has been a fundamental problem with Windows for some time, and I include the NT-based OS's, the latest of which are XP and Server 2003. Applications can easily take down the entire system.

The EULA for all Windows platforms states quite clearly that you understand that Windows is not intended for critical or life-saving applications. I think that air traffic control certainly falls within that scope. These folks were wrong to use Windows for this application in the first place. If they're afraid of Free and Open Source Software (they shouldn't be--it runs the Internet), and they want the security blanket of a "Big Company", then they should've gone with something like Solaris.

This is a great example of firms like Microsoft buying our politicians and compromising our safety--and in many cases, liberty--in the process.

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