Ernie SmithJul 19, 2024

Southwest’s tech debt hurt it back in 2022 but it seems to be doing it some favors today.

Old Windows taketh away, but sometimes old Windows giveth.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/southwest-cloudstrike-windows-3-1/

EDIT: Fix date

EDIT: @peterbutler pushed me to do a little more research, and I’m more comfortable saying it the underlying software probably dates to Windows NT or XP.

A Windows version from 1992 is saving Southwest’s butt right now

Southwest hasn't been impacted by the CrowdStrike outage, and that's reportedly because it's still running Windows 3.1.

Digital Trends
Show threadDan Riley
@ernie The implicit assumption seems to be that if they had updated to a modern OS, the temptation to install CrowdStrike would be irresistible. Or maybe at least leave them open to accusations of not following best practices (more so than depending on Windows 3.1? Maybe??). Seems like an interesting case for assignment of liability.
Jul 19, 2024 at 8:35pmWeb
Show threadErnie SmithJul 19, 2024
@dan131riley I also think that there’s a good chance that trying to build a system like this in 2023/2024 would probably be done with Linux rather than Windows. Their technical debt is such that starting over with the best foundation is best, and when all the other companies built their systems they probably built on Windows because FOSS wasn’t as popular then as it is now.
Show threadDan RileyJul 19, 2024
@ernie@writing is there a point where a corporation can be held liable for technical debt? seems like an interesting question? (and OMG most of these systems were built to talk to bespoke OS/360 apps and the current backend is probably z-series with Windows the easiest frontend integration platform)
Show threadErnie SmithJul 20, 2024
@dan131riley I think liability would probably emerge if it led to a major crime like fraud or negligence. If a plane crashed because they weren’t updating their systems for instance that would be a factor, or if it caused the theft of PII or financial data.