Summary: Microsoft Windows mentality and strong dependencies continue to cause immeasurable damage that costs people a lot in terms money and in terms of health
London police (Met Police) continues to waste money on a platform with back doors (accessible by a foreign nation), according to this report from The Inquirer.
"THE UK METROPOLITAN POLICE," it says, "has confirmed it will be seeking an extended support deal with Microsoft, after it was revealed that it is still running a staggering 35,000-plus machines powered by Windows XP almost 13 months after the operating system was degraded to end of life." They are paying vast amounts of money to merely maintain a terrible operating system which is unfit for purpose. What a heist! Microsoft makes a lot of money from obsolescence. It's the same in the NHS. They must both migrate to GNU/Linux to justify the amount of money they cost British taxpayers, never mind privacy aspects. London police
has been stuck with
Microsoft Windows for quite some time and there have been security-related incidents due to it. How much is
too much? It's a matter of national security, not just cost.
In other news, Fukushima's nuclear facilities used a 10 year-old operating system, Windows XP, during the meltdown in 2011, according to
this other report from The Inquirer. "Fukushima nuclear plant ordered to upgrade from Windows XP" says the headline, so presumably they mean other versions of Windows rather than GNU/Linux. People who think that it's acceptable to run Windows in nuclear facilities should recall BP, whose
platform caught on fire due to Windows (at least the alerting failed, due to Windows blue screens of death). With GE's involvement in Fukushima's nuclear facilities it might be worth noting that GE recently dumped Windows when it comes to its CT scanners, which emit a lot of radiation. Someone who works at GE told me about this migration some months ago. They are moving to GNU/Linux.
"These need to be looking at FOSS," wrote to us iophk, "including transitioning suites like Zentyal The exit costs need to be included in any upcoming assessments of considerations."
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