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.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    434 months ago

    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.

    • krdo
      link
      fedilink
      English
      214 months ago

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

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        174 months ago

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

        • palordrolap
          link
          fedilink
          24 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.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        34 months ago

        Bold of you to assume any of the “experts” writing about this know what a TCP/IP stack is

    • Corgana
      link
      fedilink
      English
      44 months ago

      The “source” is a tweet from a random dude, it’s almost certainly not true.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      24 months ago

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

      Well I suppose now there might be more