Is this actually true? What's next? A BSOD? I would have ever ever in my life bet that Microsoft software could be shipped in a spacecraft carrying human beings. Unbeliveable.

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kube-system 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

You're a couple decades behind the news. Basically every version of Windows since 95 has been on spacecraft carrying humans. The ISS notoriously migrated to Linux after a virus spread across their Windows XP systems.

But these things aren't running the guidance computers -- they're laptops.

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vsgherzi 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

do you have a link on the virus part? I thought they moved simply for stability

	▲	kube-system 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/155392-international-spa...

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mmooss 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Laptops have built-in battery backup lasting hours.

	▲	kube-system 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Are you suggesting that’s the reason they use them? They use laptops because desktops are too big. The laptops aren’t there as some sort of a contingency for a power loss. They’re there to do their research work. You know, how scientists on earth use laptops, and or desktops.

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krisoft 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> I would have ever ever in my life bet that Microsoft software could be shipped in a spacecraft carrying human beings.

Do you also worry when you are flying on an airplane where some other passengers carry a laptop running windows? Just because it is a computer and it is on a spacecraft doesnt mean it will harm human beings if it goes down.