Aha! This is the kind of information I'm asking about. Again, I think that there are no major plants out there that run mission critical systems on M$. But as the article Shannon quotes proves, the line between mission critical and user support networks is getting thin and could exacerbate system failures.
In my opinion, we have take back desktop computing from the paradigm that M$ has punished us with. No more RESET buttons! John Hebert -----Original Message----- From: Shannon Roddy To: [email protected] Sent: 9/13/03 11:08 AM Subject: Re: [brlug-general] M$ did cause the blackout. from http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/story.asp?id=1B8ACE7F-C1ED- 4D8D-857E-20443CEE8476 The Blaster worm that flummoxed an estimated half-million computers around the world last month and crippled Air Canada's computer systems might have worsened utilities' problems during the August blackout, said Joe Weiss, a utility control system expert. "It didn't cause what happened, but it could've exacerbated what happened," said Weiss, with Kema Consulting in Cupertino, Calif. The blackout followed the Aug. 11 Blaster outbreak by just three days. The Ohio utility that is the chief focus of the blackout investigation, FirstEnergy Corp., is investigating whether the Blaster worm might have caused computer trouble said to have hampered its response to multiple power line failures. "We haven't detected a worm or a virus, but we're not ruling anything out," said FirstEnergy spokesman Ralph DiNicola. In January, the Slammer Internet worm took down monitoring computers at FirstEnergy's idled Davis-Besse nuclear plant. A subsequent report by the North American Electric Reliability Council said the infection blocked commands that operated other power utilities, although it caused no power failures. Shannon Roddy wrote: > Dustin Puryear wrote: > >> I'm completely lost at this point. Your mind is made up about what? >> Microsoft? The name isn't even mentioned. Please do tell! > > > > My mind is made up that Microsoft and Blaster contributed to the > blackout. However, even if this fact is found, I do not think that it > will ever be released publicly. It opens up too big a can of worms > politicly and also civil liability for the power companies and the > contractors (not to mention MS). > So, my mind is made up that Microsoft may not be the cause for the > problems that happened, but Microsoft IS at fault for the operators to > not be able to compensate for a series of events that happened. Think > about it, these sorts of fluctuations, problems, etc. happen quite > often. But they never take down the grid. Until the operators > machine starts rebooting every 10 minutes for instance. > > Say what you want, but Microsoft does not belong ANYWHERE near ANY > kind of industrial/electrical/refinery/military/banking, etc > computer. Call me a OS biggot or whatever, but it is the damn truth. > MS should NEVER be put anywhere where failure is not an option. And I > don't just mean replace it with Linux. Nearly any *nix, mac, vxWorks, > whatever is a much better solution for these sorts of systems. > >> >> At 10:11 AM 9/13/2003 -0500, you wrote: >> >>> Not conclusive, but my mind is already made up: >>> >>> http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20030913_80.html >>> >>> "Hoff Stauffer, a power transmission expert at Cambridge Energy >>> Research Associates, said investigators need to find out why grid >>> operators were unable to increase power flows to the trouble spots, >>> or promptly reduce demand, to restore the balance needed in the >>> system." >>> >>> >>> John Hebert wrote: >>> >>>> Will, >>>> >>>> I skimmed through the article but saw no mention of Microsoft >>>> failures. >>>> >>>> How did you arrive at your conclusion? >>>> >>>> John Hebert >>>> >>>> -----Original Message----- >>>> From: will hill >>>> To: [email protected] >>>> Sent: 9/13/03 9:10 AM >>>> Subject: [brlug-general] M$ did cause the blackout. >>>> >>>> It's all but official. Microsoft failures left operators blind to >>>> problems they could have solved. The New York Times has a nice >>>> summary: >>>> >>>> http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/13/national/13POWE.html?hp >>>> >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> General mailing list >>>> [email protected] >>>> http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> General mailing list >>>> [email protected] >>>> http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net >>>> >>> >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> General mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net >>> >> >> >> --- >> Dustin Puryear <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> Puryear Information Technology, LLC <http://www.puryear-it.com> >> Providing expertise in the management, integration, and >> security of Windows and UNIX systems, networks, and applications. >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> General mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > General mailing list > [email protected] > http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net _______________________________________________ General mailing list [email protected] http://brlug.net/mailman/listinfo/general_brlug.net
