Thread

1. voidUpdate · 1790669867 · focus · HN ↗

   > "This system runs an older version Stratus proprietary VOS operating system, which Hogan believes hasn’t been updated since the early 2000s. “It’s been extremely stable,’ he said."

   That's not particularly surprising to be honest. If it's a server operating system, on hardware that doesn't change, there's not really a reason to update the OS unless there's a security problem found

   1. mrweasel · 1790670780 · focus · HN ↗

      It's not really a security strategy, but running an obscure proprietary operating system on a system which probably isn't connected to the internet means that you're only susceptible to highly targeted attacks by a dedicated foe.

      Apparently the latest VOS release was in 2025, which means that somewhere there's a team of developers maintaining it. That's really the thing I find the most interesting, that there exists teams developing operating systems like VOS, strange DOS clones or UnixWare (perhaps less so these days). Must be a strange anonymous life.

      1. voidUpdate · 1790671309 · focus · HN ↗

         The article is very vague about what it actually does, so I don't know if it's connected to the internet or not :/

         1. rbanffy · 1790678976 · focus · HN ↗

            Most likely not directly connected. I'm assuming this one is doing process control and any internet access it might have must be mediated by other systems.
      2. throwaway173738 · 1790686805 · focus · HN ↗

         > Must be a strange anonymous life.

         This perfectly characterizes most embedded systems work. Competent software development using bespoke or off the shelf components that are not mainstream. Nobody ever realizes they’re using your computer software if you’ve done your job right. One day someone throws your appliance away because it’s obsolete.

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