United Airlines: Computers froze, flights halted, we don't know what happened.

[firefox_fan]

But don't worry, all is OK now...

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/story?id=3299670

[JohnyCanuck]

1. Damn that Vista. Shoulda waited until SP2 was out before we upgraded. n/t

[firefox_fan]

3. Ahahahahah! yup, Vista is buggy.

[Rex]

2. Maybe have a back up system?

I know it costs money, but they are worth it.

[firefox_fan]

4. Nah, what is the worst that could happen? A few crashes... Nothing more.

[karlrschneider]

5. Well, we all know airplanes never got off the ground before computers were invented.

I heard earlier today the affected computers are used to compute weight and balance on their planes. Apparently pilots aren't taught how to figure that out nowadays. :eyes:

Sometimes I wonder if they're actually trained to do much more than punch a button marked "Chicago"...

I've calculated those things since 1963. Maybe arithmetic doesn't work properly on a large airliner. Grr.

[firefox_fan]

7. Probably under good weather conditions it is as simple

as pressing "Chicago"... Scary. if the computer on the ground froze, perhaps those on board could do the same... What OS do they run? Microsoft crap?

[karlrschneider]

9. Well, there are lots of computers involved in navigation (air traffic control)

and if those go down it's inconvenient but hardly a disaster as long as the radios still work. But the whole infrastructure is so interconnected these days, I could envision a virtually total meltdown of the whole system as worst case.
That would be very ugly.

[Rex]

6. Maybe they weighed the cost of liability verses the cost of an upgrade

and guess which one won.

[firefox_fan]

8. I'm sure they always do that...

[soothsayer]

10. Are our airlines coming under computer attacks? Just askin'...

[firefox_fan]

11. Good question...

[Pachamama]

12. Was it a test run? That's what I wondered when I heard the news...

:eyes: