Bonum Certa Men Certa

Stock Market.NET: Fail

From airline crashes to stock market crashes

Last week we used the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as an example of the unsuitability of Microsoft software for mission-critical operations. Today we witness another disastrous case study. It takes place in London where the stock market has crashed. [Hat tip benJIman for the pointer]

Trading on the London Stock Exchange has been halted after a computer system failed on one of the most frantic days of trading so far this year.

FTSE 100: trading on the London Stock Exchange halted after computer systems failed

In an embarrassment for the LSE, the exchange said that no orders can be entered or executions of those trades occur. The LSE plans to bring back trading in a “controlled way’’, but couldn't say how long that will take.


Who is to blame? "Everything Microsoft" CIOs like Richard Steel immediately spring to mind [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] because they are very prevalent in the UK.

This London Stock Exchange (LSE) deployment is Microsoft's wannabe 'poster child'[1] , for which Microsoft claims "One hundred per cent reliable on high-volume trading days." Can this ambitious statement be true given those previous outages [2]? LSE is also rumored to have excessive redundancy/backup, which raises costs considerably.

There are a variety of 'peripheral' ways in ways in which Microsoft software harms trading. For example, those hundreds of millions of Windows zombies enable stocks to be played [3]. This has already affected both the European [4] and the American market [5].

Reliability is not a strong point for Windows and other layers of the Microsoft stack. The Diebold fiasco is proof of this [6,7]. Meanwhile, wiser officers in the US market [8] and other international markets [9] are choosing GNU/Linux. It's very pervasive [10, 11, 13] and even Free software has found its way in [12, 14]. GNU/Linux is said to be ready for mission-critical applications [15, 16, 17] and other bits of Free software are getting there too [18].

___

[1] London Stock Exchange Cuts Information Dissemination Time from 30 to 2 Milliseconds [DOC] [HTML]

Working with Microsoft and Accenture, the London Stock Exchange replaced its London Market Information Link (LMIL€®) system with Infolect€®. It used the Microsoft€® .NET Framework, the Microsoft Visual C#€® .NET development tool, and the Microsoft SQL Server™ 2000 database


[2] London Stock Exchange blames outage on Infolect

The outage hit shortly before close of trading and forced the exchange to extend its closing auction by a hour and a half, from 4.30pm until 6pm. Even so it was reported that that some traders left for the day with trades unexecuted

Infolect was launched two years ago in place of the exchange’s London Market Information Link platform. It uses Microsoft .net technology and a SQL Server database


[3] Microsoft is the world's biggest cause of zombie remailers

In China, it would take about one and one-half years wages (for the average Chinese) to buy a legitimate copy of Windows Vista. If you could find it here.

Microsoft is the biggest cause of zombie remailers in the world, because they make noises, but do not do anything to address the real digital inequities in the world.


[4] Pump and dump spam comes to Europe

Earlier this month, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had suspended trading in 35 companies that were found to be commonly referenced in pump-and-dump stock email campaigns.


[5] SEC goes after stock spammers, hackers

The SEC action to freeze the assets is the third filed in as many months involving market manipulation schemes conducted through online account intrusions. In the past the SEC has also taken action against individuals who allegedly broke into financial news Web sites or news release services.

[...]

"When spam clogs our mailboxes, it's annoying. When it rips off investors, it's illegal and destructive," SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said in a statement.


[6] Ohio Audit Says Diebold Vote Database May Have Been Corrupted

Problems found in an audit of Diebold tabulation records from an Ohio November 2006 election raise questions about whether the database got corrupted during the tabulation of election results...

[...]

The database is built from Microsoft's Jet database engine. The engine, according to Microsoft, is vulnerable to corruption when a lot of concurrent activity is happening with the database, such as what occurs on an election night...

[...]

The report mentions that election staff had trouble with the server crashing and freezing on election night.

[...]

The report notes that with punch card machines election officials used to be able to determine definitively if all ballots had been counted in the results.


[7] Diebold's Problems Worse Than Reported, Tests Find

Nineteen machines had 21 screen freezes or system crashes, producing a blue screen and messages about an "illegal operation" or a "fatal exception error." A Diebold technician had to restart the machine for voting to resume. Ten machines had a total of 11 printer jams. Almost one-third of all machines in the mock election had a problem.

[...]

"Especially with this blue-screen problem, you don't know whether it's the printer drivers, you don't know whether it's Diebold's own code or whether it's Windows, or where the problem is," he said. "It brings into question the entire system."


[8] NYSE Euronext banks on Red Hat

If anyone out there persists in believing that Linux isn't ready for serious prime time, NYSE Euronext's dependence on Red Hat should finally lay that silly notion to rest. As announced, the New York Stock Exchange Euronext dumped its proprietary UNIX heritage (AIX, HP UX, Solaris) for the freedom, flexibility, and performance of Linux.


[9] Linux steps up to power NZ Stock Exchange

The New Zealand Stock Exchange is moving to a Linux platform for its settlement and clearing system, replacing its existing HP NonStop platform and applications in order to reduce cost and increase flexibility.


[10] HP Linux servers bolster NYSE trading app

"We favor Linux for what we do. We don't want to be beholden to any one [hardware or software] supplier, even if it is very good. We want the freedom to be vendor-independent, so Linux was a good choice," said Rubinow.


[11] Mainframe Linux at SHARE

Everyone is already using Linux somewhere, Elliott said, but there are still people who are afraid to put their mission-critical applications on it for fear that it is not robust enough.


[12] Open Source Slowly Gains Momentum on Wall Street

Customers may be comfortable using Linux for infrastructure-type systems but less so for business software, said Monica Kumar, senior director of product manager for Linux and open-source software at Oracle.


[13] Linux goes to Wall Street, puts on a show

"The Financial Services firms are leading the enterprise adoption of open source technology, including Linux," says Zachary. "By watching the consumption patterns of these firms, open source vendors can gain a good understanding of the types of products and services that are commercially viable.

[...]

"We see a growing role for open source software beyond Linux in financial services companies and that's why many companies are expanding the governance policies and procedures around using open source software."


[14] Open source and mission critical: The Linux application server landscape

In 2005, Michael Dortch, executive editor and director of IT infrastructure management strategies at the Robert Frances Group, penned a report comparing Linux application server total cost of ownership (TCO) with Microsoft's Windows and Sun Microsystems' Solaris. In that report, Linux won handily, prompting Dortch to recommend that all IT managers at least give the Linux application server a serious look for mission-critical data center tasks.

[...]

What a lot of our clients are finding today, however, is that, with Linux and open source application servers, the wisdom of the crowd has solved those standards-based problems. And because the management tools are freely available and malleable, they find that the big sell was "cheap and free" but is now "What will complete my processes faster?" Open source used to be inexpensive and free, but now IT is finding value [in it] because it's more responsive and responsive.


[15] Linux Crossing Threshold to Real Mission Critical Computing

...Linux developers are steadily chipping away at the most significant functional gaps that limited its suitability for these workloads in the past, allowing it to progress far beyond the "edge of network" domain where it has traditionally thrived. The impressive wins by Novell and Red Hat prove that user perceptions about Linux's limitations are gradually crumbling as well.


[16] Next Gen, Mission-Critical Apps To Be Deployed on Linux Says Report

By now it should be obvious to even the most casual industry observers that Linux operating systems - and open source-based software in general - have reached critical marketplace mass. Recent Linux deals and announcements by Oracle and Microsoft have only reinforced the "open source is enterprise-grade" message that IBM, Unisys and other "Master Brand" hardware, software and services vendors have been preaching for years. In short, open source, especially Linux, is becoming "legitimized" by the major vendors for enterprise environments, and user executives are more than happy to believe them.


[17] CIO study finds Linux ready for prime-time

The company predicts a steep rise: only 18 percent of businesses will be using Linux in business-critical roles by the end of 2007.

"Linux operating systems - and open source-based software in general - have reached critical marketplace mass," said the study's authors, Bruce Guptill and Bill McNee of Saugatuck Research.


[18] Forrester: Open source is everywhere, and increasingly used for mission-critical applications

Forrester just issued an insightful report on the increasing adoption of open source in the enterprise. The verdict? Open source is everywhere, and taking an ever-increasing piece of the enterprise pie


Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

European Authorities, Already Bribed and Infiltrated by Microsoft, Won't Help You Find BigBlueButton, Jami, Ring, and Jitsi
Because they're paid by Microsoft and are Microsoft 'addicts' themselves
Moving From Content Management Systems (CMSs) to Static Site Generators (SSGs) Saves You Time, Makes You a Lot More Productive
try to reduce the cost (financial and computational) of running your site
Leak: European Patent Office (EPO) is Now Attacking Amicale Clubs
corruption has become the norm and scientists are robbed of any dignity
Oracle Fraud (or Defrauding Shareholders)
"the obvious [lie] is that watts are (wasted) electricity [and] and FLOPS are computing capacity"
Explaining (in Length and Depth) the Damage Matthew Garrett Did to Linux and to GNU/Linux Users
no matter how many threats we receive
 
The Apache Logo News is VERY Old, Racists and 'Anti-Woke' Bigots Look for Something to Incite Other Bigots With
Nothing to see here, move along
Linux Mint 9/11: "4th One Today..." (in Reddit)
Remember that not everyone having an issue reports it to social control media like Reddit
Nepal Will Fall Without a Single Shot Fired, Thanks to Social Control Media
Or very few shots (by the authorities)
European Corruption in the European Patent Office (EPO) Targets Culture
"In reality, the project includes a new “legal instrument” shifting administrative burden and liability on EPO staff while creating new uncertainty and externalising Amicale activities."
UEFI Secure Boot Failing, as Expected for Nearly 15 Years Already (Techrights Said This Since 2012)
in the media
Debian 9/11
people report this issue
Gemini and Web Links 13/09/2025: MElon's Slop Grift and "Autonomous Trains"
Links for the day
Pursuing Peace Through Violence
You cannot "see" a person's mind, until the mouth opens
Can We Please Stop Celebrating Shooters?
"An important point to hammer on is that CoCs were never intended for uniform or symmetric application"
Geminispace is Growing Faster in 2025 Than It Did in 2024
What matters is that corporations haven't ruined it and LLM slop is extremely rare
Links 13/09/2025: China Punishes for 'Negative' Posts, US Police Unable to Find Shooter
Links for the day
Who's the Mystery Financier of SLAPP Against Techrights and Is That a Millionaire/Billionaire?
Whose idea was it to fund meritless lawsuits against my wife and I?
Slopwatch: Slow Slop Day
This distracts from or may take traffic away from the original articles, actually written by actual people
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 12, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, September 12, 2025
CoC Gone Wrong: Celebrating Murder OK, Complaining About the Celebration Gets You Banned
Hopefully the NixOS Foundation will have a word with (maybe replace) the moderator/s
Gemini Links 12/09/2025: Familiarity and Secondary Dominants
Links for the day
Links 12/09/2025: "Bad Reviews" as Extortion Weapon, "Free Speech At Risk in America’s Schools" According to ACLU
Links for the day
Only One Speaker Does Not Do Sharecropping for MElon (in X.com)
The man who puts principles before PR/optics
The Mind of the 'Hulk Hogan of UEFI'
in a nutshell
A Day After "UEFI 9/11": UEFI Secure Boot Bypass
In the news today (right now), as published in the past few hours
Links 12/09/2025: Slop Code as Liability, Microsoft Outlook Down for Many
Links for the day
It's Still Not to Late to Turn Off "Secure Boot"
If people reboot their PC or server today, and it relies on "Secure Boot" on Sept. 12 or later, then depending on the firmware there may be trouble ahead
Links 12/09/2025: Shira Perlmutter is Back, “Software Per Se” Patent Rejections in In re McFadden
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Linux Plagiarism, Slopfarms Still Infesting Google News, Many Images Are Fake
Google is promoting plagiarism
"This Morning Might Turn Out to be an Interesting One for System Admins Who Haven't Updated Their Devices' Secure Boot Certificate" (If They Reboot)
Who asked for this anyway?
Gemini Links 12/09/2025: Metric System, Dumping Windows, and Software Architecture is Dead
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 11, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, September 11, 2025
Microsoft Admits the Workers Have Lost Trust (Endless Layoffs, 12-13 Rounds of Layoffs This Year), So Now It's Trotting out Its Peter Bright-Like Media Prop Jordan Novet
What they don't want people to pay attention to right now
Links 11/09/2025: Windows TCO and Russian Drones Invading Poland (EU/NATO)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 11/09/2025: xkcd, misfin, and Alhena 5.3.2
Links for the day
Repetition of Last Summer (Microsoft Breaking Dual-Boot Systems)
UEFI 9/11 is about to kick in
UEFI 'Secure Boot' Boiling Frogs (Cannot Turn Off 'Secure Boot')
"MSI laptop is locked on Secure Boot and doesn't allow me to turn it off"
UEFI 9/11 Aftermath - Part IV: The 'Hulk Hogan of UEFI' and His 'Hideout' Holiday (Retreat From Reality)
Let's keep an eye on what matters
UEFI 9/11 Aftermath - Part III: Mr. 'Secure Boot' (Shim) and His Fake 'Holiday' (Sending My Wife and I Threatening E-mails on 9/11)
despite being on holiday, according to him, he finds time to instruct lawyers to contact my wife
UEFI 9/11 Aftermath - Part II: "The SecureBoot Thing Got Out of Hand."
The next few weeks might be... interesting
UEFI 9/11 Aftermath - Part I: "I Believe This Affects Thousands of Devices... Because Multiple Devices I Checked, Whether Client or Server [...] Affected."
Most people aren't even aware that this is happening or about to happen
The UEFI 9/11 - Part X - An Outline of the Series About Microsoft Sabotaging GNU/Linux (With Ramifications to Unfold Online in Coming Weeks as People Reboot)
Today is UEFI 9/11 (9/11/2025)
Ron Wyden: Microsoft Should be Held Accountable for Security Breaches (He Has Said This for Years Already, It Never Happens)
Negative media coverage isn't a fine and it does nothing to compensate Microsoft's billions of victims
Culture of silence: Ubisoft harassment convictions, Mozilla, Sylvestre Ledru & Debian make no comment
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Disable 'Secure Boot' (If It Lets You)
it doesn't put you in control
Links 11/09/2025: "Hey Hi" Ponzi Schemes at Oracle (Unpaid Contracts) and Cindy Cohn is Leaving the EFF
Links for the day
Longtime Red Hat Staff: Maybe Just Disable 'Secure Boot'
A refreshing take from Adam Williamson
Gemini Links 11/09/2025: Playdate Console, Dichotomy between the Real and the Digital
Links for the day
A Dozen Observations About "UEFI 9/11" Deflections
What we are expected to see, tentatively
The Microsoft AstroTurfing and Microsoft-Led Blame-Shifting Tactics Are Ahead of Us
Of course it has nothing to do with security, it's about control, i.e. them controlling everything
Celebrating Assassination is Bad Because It Legitimises Assassination of the People You Like, Too
Condoning or even celebrating political assassinations is bad optics (and taste)
The World's Richest Ponzi Scheme (Faking Value Using Net Waste)
The higher they go the harder they fall
We Could Dual-Boot Back in the 1990s, Why Has This Become So Difficult?
And prone to breakage
Being Conditioned to Accept Unreliable Computer Systems That Fail With Black Screen of Death (BSoD)
Welcome to 2025
Slopwatch: Google News is Still Promoting Many Fake Articles About "Linux", in Effect Rewarding Misinformation and Plagiarism
things continue to deteriorate
New Series: The Coup Against GNU/Linux Has Begun
today, this year in particular, we shall also focus on Secure Boot, which is sold based on a lie and tortures many computer user
New Paper on "BYOVD, but in firmware. Signed UEFI shells, vulnerable modules offer new paths for Secure Boot bypasses."
One might say digital "security theatre"
Links 11/09/2025: Oracle Layoffs, Drunk Pilots in Japan Airlines, US-Korea Tensions Grow
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 10, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 10, 2025