Historically Large Outage

We are electronically interconnected. No surprise there. Despite, or perhaps because of its complexity, the system can be incredibly fragile. A system update that went wrong created the largest computer outage, for now. Don’t simply blame Microsoft. That’s too easy. Unfortunately, it does all come down to one company making one update. Updates are common. They happen every day. This event heightens the awareness that single failures can affect millions of people and operations for hours. Fortunately, it looks like it was ‘only’ affected Microsoft products. Apple and Linux (including Chromebook, which is what this is written on) were unaffected. Frequent updates are usually considered the proper protection, but ironically, people using old software or less-frequently used software were less likely to be impacted. Unfortunately, the various businesses and agencies they rely on may still interrupt lives and critical procedures. One solution: keep an old computer around, and possibly keep more than one operating system available. Finally, a use for those old desktops and laptops.

“Major Outages At CrowdStrike, Microsoft Leave The World With BSODs And Confusion” – Ars Technica