Britain's Nuclear Powered Submarines Running Windows XP

a reply to: TerryDon79

There's no facts to argue don't be ridiculous I already mentioned it was on a closed network please just give it up.

The Brit's are easy and fun to poke at.

Why not use linux?

It's free and customizable.

It's not 100 percent secure but probably way more secure then windows xp.

a reply to: toysforadults

We certainly are that, but at least we understand the absurdity and stupidity of our own creed and way of life.

Rather a few people of shall we say some of the younger nations of our world seem to get there nose right bent out of shape if you start to poke fun at there predicament and/or situation, just saying.

Think the way most Brits look at it is, if you are poking fun at us then you are leaving some other poor bastard alone really.

originally posted by: SolAquarius
Why not use linux?

It's free and customizable.

It's not 100 percent secure but probably way more secure then windows xp.

The main reason is because of cost and integration.

-Budget cuts have left the armed forces with pennies.
-It's not as easy as just finding drivers on the internet for a sub. It took quite a long time and a lot of debugging before they even sent out trial runs.

originally posted by: SolAquarius
Why not use linux?

It's free and customizable.

It's not 100 percent secure but probably way more secure then windows xp.

My point exactly...

a reply to: TerryDon79

It seems that it would be a nobrainer for so many fields from military to the local library.

No more microsoft licence, nice open source customization,considerably better security and long term cost savings of running free open source software.

Though I thought this many years ago and I have seen no dramatic shift to linux.

Maybe you are right it's probably bureaucracy and other factors getting in the way of what seems efficient and practical.

a reply to: toysforadults

And this is information that needs to go all over the internet?

No wonder this # planet is going down a galactic # drain.

a reply to: SolAquarius

More granular control over your network and devices would be optimal for the military I'm sure.

In the US our IT teams go to school for a year and a half I see no reason why they can't designate a rate for software developers that focus on UNIX/Linux systems.

Oh wait they already that's where they came up with Nalcomis.. duh..

Who knows why they do what they do... I think what it really comes down to is lack of knowledge in leadership. That's what the issue is with the US government.

While obviously not as critical as nuclear, I can confirm our fuel inventory systems were still using 56K modems in the US Air Force in 2016. The government usually doesn't have the latest and greatest of anything, takes too long to get approvals and we just don't have the money to buy new stuff all the time. But the VA can still afford this nonsense.

a reply to: solve

How so?

XP OS or otherwise, any information passes only in two directions, generally via high frequency or extremely low frequency radio waves and is highly encrypted.

The planet is going to the dogs because we posses such weapons of mass destruction, nothing to do with which OS our subs utilise for there computer systems really.

a reply to: face23785

Back in 2015 the US declared a military and defence budget of $601 billion, which is more than the next 7 highest spending countries combined.

U.S spending on the "military" accounts for 57 percent of the federal dollar.

So i think you may have the monies to do a bit better than most.

Which is sad really, not that my own nation is guilt free with respects to what we spend(2.4 percent GDP in 2016), but 57 percent???

The mind simply boggles at such military industrial hypocrisy.

originally posted by: SolAquarius
a reply to: TerryDon79

It seems that it would be a nobrainer for so many fields from military to the local library.

No more microsoft licence, nice open source customization,considerably better security and long term cost savings of running free open source software.

Though I thought this many years ago and I have seen no dramatic shift to linux.

Maybe you are right it's probably bureaucracy and other factors getting in the way of what seems efficient and practical.

For the military and defence companies, they need to find those engineers with the expertise and security clearance who want to work on military projects. That would involve finding Linux/Open source engineers who are used to working in absolute secrecy and haven't moved around the world (security clearance requires being in the UK for at least five years). Projects tend to evolve in the direction based on the availability of staff.

a reply to: toysforadults

I loved XP. Wish I still had it. Unfortunately, I don't. Good for the Royal Navy!!

originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: face23785

Back in 2015 the US declared a military and defence budget of $601 billion, which is more than the next 7 highest spending countries combined.

U.S spending on the "military" accounts for 57 percent of the federal dollar.

So i think you may have the monies to do a bit better than most.

Which is sad really, not that my own nation is guilt free with respects to what we spend(2.4 percent GDP in 2016), but 57 percent???

The mind simply boggles at such military industrial hypocrisy.

Comparing military budgets between countries by direct expenditure is misleading and dishonest. There's a reason why NATO and UN treaties look at military budgets as a percent of GDP. Yes we spend more money, we also have more money to spend. As a percentage of GDP, not only does the US not spend more than the next x many countries combined, we're not even the top spender. See here, sort by the %GDP column. The US is actually not that far ahead of your country, 2.7% GDP vs 3.3% GDP. I'll note that %GDP and % of the budget are 2 totally different things so you're confusing yourself there. I'll discuss % of the budget below:

Regarding the claim our military spending being 57% of the "federal dollar", that is straight up wrong. This comes from a misleading chart that circles the internet that shows US discretionary spending, of which the military does eat up more than half. However, this is only part of the budget. See here. Military spending usually amounts to between between 15-20% of the federal budget, fluctuating year to year of course.

I hope you'll spread this knowledge about the fake news circulating about US military spending.

a reply to: face23785

Mate even if the figure stands at around 15-20%, the hypocrisy and general belligerent ambivalence that surrounds such a percentage is beyond most peoples capability to fathom, understand or comprehend.

Then again, apparently policing the world, whilst operating the dog and pony show that is our war on terror, never mind raping and pillaging the Middle East at our leisure is rather costly these days, or so i'm lead to believe.

End of the day both our respective nations have far more pressing matters to address that we should be expending our resources and monies towards.

Stands to simple reason really.

a reply to: andy06shake

So you looked at your own country's military spending as a percentage of GDP, but you're still looking at the US spending as a percentage of the budget? Why not look at an apples to apples comparison? I just showed you the information you thought you had was grossly inaccurate and your response is "Well it's still more than I think it should be". Who put you in charge of the US budget?

Where are you from by the way? I'd like to see if there's even public info available about what percentage of your budget is spent on the military.

a reply to: seagull

I have it lying around on a old CD/DVD somewhere. Might even be able to fit it as an email attachment depending on the size you are allowed to receive, depending on your email client, should you really desire the file.

That being said numerous versions of said OS are available to DL if somewhat of a legal grey area from various P2P and other file sharing networks online.