LWN.net Logo

London Stock Exchange begins migration to Linux-based trading platform (ComputerworldUK)

London Stock Exchange begins migration to Linux-based trading platform (ComputerworldUK)

Posted Jan 23, 2010 19:37 UTC (Sat) by Doogie (guest, #59626)
In reply to: London Stock Exchange begins migration to Linux-based trading platform (ComputerworldUK) by trasz
Parent article: London Stock Exchange begins migration to Linux-based trading platform (ComputerworldUK)

LOL! Every article I've ever seen about the USS Yorktown specifically cites Windows NT for the ship board failures. I notice you tried unsuccessfully to argue something similar on wikipedia. As they rightly told you there, all the verifiable evidence strongly implicates Windows NT as the source of the problems with the USS Yorktown, so if you have any evidence proving otherwise you should provide it.

My apologies to everyone else for feeding the troll, sometimes I just can't resist.


(Log in to post comments)

London Stock Exchange begins migration to Linux-based trading platform (ComputerworldUK)

Posted Jan 25, 2010 12:42 UTC (Mon) by trasz (guest, #45786) [Link]

Actually, there is no evidence for the claim that Windows NT malfunctioned. If there was, the Wired author would write about Windows NT malfunction. He didn't. Given that the whole Wired article was based around the "Windows NT sunk the ship" story (after all, how many Wired readers would care about a bug in some proprietary navy software they never heard about?), the only reason for not saying straight that the Windows failed was the fact that it didn't, in fact, fail.

The exact cause of the problem is already known - missing NULL check in the application that... well, that did something with the ship. This missing check caused the application to crash. The only connection between this application and Windows was that it was running under Windows. It wasn't part of Windows, and it wasn't written by Microsoft.

Even the management guy (who wasn't directly involved and didn't really have any clue about what worked and what didn't) didn't claim that Windows NT failed - he claimed that he _believes_ that choice of Windows was not a good idea. In every corporation you will find dozens of people that believe Linux is bad and you shouldn't use it for critical parts of infrastructure. Exactly the same level of "technical insight".

Copyright © 2013, Eklektix, Inc.
Comments and public postings are copyrighted by their creators.
Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds