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but then all of the pumps would stop working and people would die every time there was an update. General purpose operating systems are just a bad idea for run

• bcaa7f3a8bbc 8y ago
  >General purpose operating systems are just a bad idea for running these hardware appliances. This.
• 3pt14159 8y ago
  I agree we need stripped down OSes to run this stuff, but the core problem is thinking "we'll just air gap it and never update it" not that the OS is general purpose. Look at QNX: Millions of components run it in safety critical situations and none of it is patchable. After QNX got owned in 2017 what are we supposed to do? Open up every tank, car, and nuclear power plant? We need reliable update schedules. Trying to air gap things doesn't work. There is always a way to access the interface and bridgeware is only getting better.
  • jdietrich 8y ago
    Airgapping is a very useful layer of defence in a lot of applications. Never pushing updates is usually a bad idea, but automatic updates pushed by the OS or equipment vendor can be equally problematic. Regressions are irritating on consumer devices, but they can be catastrophic in critical embedded systems. If there's anything that can be called a "solution", it looks very much like good engineering. No technology or methodology can stop you from shipping broken systems. If you're shipping ATMs that run Windows XP in 2011, your problems almost certainly run much deeper than a bad choice of platform.