Southwest Airlines, the fourth largest airline in the US, is seemingly unaffected by the problematic CrowdStrike update that caused millions of computers to BSoD (Blue Screen of Death) because it used Windows 3.1. The CrowdStrike issue disrupted operations globally after a faulty update caused newer computers to freeze and stop working, with many prominent institutions, including airports and almost all US airlines, including United, Delta, and American Airlines, needing to stop flights.
Windows 3.1, launched in 1992, is likely not getting any updates. So, when CrowdStrike pushed the faulty update to all its customers, Southwest wasn’t affected (because it didn’t receive an update to begin with).
The airlines affected by the CrowdStrike update had to ground their fleets because many of their background systems refused to operate. These systems could include pilot and fleet scheduling, maintenance records, ticketing, etc. Thankfully, the lousy update did not affect aircraft systems, ensuring that everything airborne remained safe and were always in control of their pilots.
This is dumb. I was experimenting with unofficial ChromeOS builds since before the first consumer Chromebook. I’ve also used an actual production Chromebook as well. I’ve even used the distro ChromeOS is derived from which is called Gentoo.
If this was actually a good idea why aren’t some businesses doing it already? Linux servers are everywhere yet I have never heard of one running ChromeOS. Google who make ChromeOS don’t use ChromeOS for servers, they use conventional Linux distros like Debian with their own software running on top such as Borg or Kubernetes.
First I am going to assume you mean a Linux distro (e.g. Debian, Ubuntu) rather than just Linux, as all distributions are a superset of just Linux, as Linux is only the kernel.
It’s also not in anyway a “superset” of a conventional Linux distribution. It doesn’t even have a package manager without having to use a VM. You can’t install a different browser without using a VM. ChromeOS capabilities have improved a lot since I have used it, by supporting VMs at all and by allowing Android apps. That still doesn’t compare to a real Linux server solution. On a Linux machine I can natively run containers, not just VMs. I can install apps natively. I can configure my own security systems and sandboxing. I can even run Windows apps and games with Wine and Proton, android apps with Waydroid. I also get a much newer kernel, older Chromebooks didn’t get kernel updates throughout their entire life. Maybe that’s changes but who knows.
Another big thing Linux servers have is advanced file systems like BTRFS and ZFS, that have advanced RAID like functionality with automatic data integrity protection using checksums, snapshots built in, and other fancy features like transparent file compression. Does ChromeOS even support regular software RAID?
ChromeOS just isn’t designed for servers, it never has been. You’re trying to use a car to haul a lorry load. It’s not that cars are bad, they just aren’t designed to do that. You could use Chrome OS for employee workstations, at least some of them anyway, but not for servers.
Go and use a real Linux distro or a real Linux server and get back to me.
This is false. That module is signed by Microsoft. That means they tested it themselves. To load a module that isn’t signed on Windows requires serious tinkering and is something no business would do. I have actually done those steps myself, so I have direct personal experience here. If you had watched that video I sent you, which is by a retired Microsoft Engineer, you would know about this.
For one you apparently don’t listen. I said it’s a kernel driver/module not a core kernel component. It does however still run in kernel mode (ring 0 on x86) and has access to everything any other thing running in kernel mode has access to including the NT kernel itself. It doesn’tq matter from a permissions perspective if it’s a driver/module or a core kernel component, the CPU protections don’t distinguish between the two by design. What does make a difference is when and how it’s loaded into kernel space/kernel mode. That’s why safe mode works, as it just doesn’t load that component.
I am not the one getting basic things wrong here. When I used ChromeOS originally it had maybe half the capabilities it has now, but even now it just isn’t as capable as a conventional Linux distro. Saying it can run VMs means nothing because so can regular Linux, in fact you can run ChromeOS in a VM, or Windows, or FreeBSD all on a Linux machine. Even at the same time if you really want.
Using and understanding are not the same. I have a Masters in CS, soon to be starting a PhD in Cyber Security. You meanwhile apparently have no experience or qualifications worth telling me about. I actually use Linux systems daily and run my own Linux based servers. Specifically I use Proxmox since that’s an actual server solution.
I did plenty of research. It says the VMs run inside of a container, but a container is not a Virtual Machine. It is technically a form of virtualization, so you’re half right. I would take the time to read up on how containers actually work. They share the same kernel as the host machine, and don’t emulate hardware the way virtualization solutions do.
Also none of this is part of the default setup, which doesn’t include any Linux VMs, just the locked down user space. You actually can do Virtual Machines inside Virtual Machines on Linux. It is called nested virtualization. My hypervisor Proxmox actually supports that as standard. You can also do containers inside virtual machines and virtual machines inside containers. The former I actually use as part of my own server setup. The point being none of this is unique or special in ChromeOS.