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MrZorg58 t1_iuby0n9 wrote

Reply to comment by a_Tin_of_Spam in Internet Explorer 11 has retired and is officially out of support by Tweho

The US military still uses windows XP, and pays Microsoft for updates, ONLY they get.

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drekmonger t1_iuc61bp wrote

Up until 2019 US military still had 8 inch floppy disks as an integral part of running nuclear silos. The software and hardware is still mostly stuff from out of the 70s.

>https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/24/us/nuclear-weapons-floppy-disks.html

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Iceykitsune2 t1_iueoa3x wrote

And the only reason they changed was inability to find a supplier.

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LookingForEnergy t1_iubz7ea wrote

As time goes on and less people use XP, would that make it more secure?

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googonite t1_iuc1kui wrote

security through obscurity antiquity

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BubblyKombucha t1_iuc3rhn wrote

Eventually compilers for popular programming languages drop any support for Windows XP so new malware can't even be built that would run on it, unless the malware developers themselves ran 10-year-old obsolete versions of compilers... but then the program libraries they might depend on have also moved on and don't work w/ such an old compiler. On a long enough time scale, Windows XP could be safe from new threats arising. ;)

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prophetofthepimps t1_iuc4kf2 wrote

Not safe from State Actors though. Only non-state actors won't bother.

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141_1337 t1_iuc5znq wrote

I'm guessing because state actors would have the resources to find such antique software?

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Guac_in_my_rarri t1_iuc5s48 wrote

Wait till you hear about the tax software the IRS uses....

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SkyNetIsNow t1_iudgpf0 wrote

They literally have employees typing data from paper forms into the computer for the paper tax documents they receive. Which is why they want people to file electronically. They are just exploring OCR options with no clean plans about if or when to use it in the future.

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Alternative_Dish740 t1_iuccw7j wrote

Literally how my old Win 3.11 machine is safe when I dial up one of the few remaining BBS's for nostalgia. 32/64 bit programs cant run on it and so neither can any viruses.

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dkran t1_iudq5ae wrote

Hmm… I wonder how many windows 3.11 computers are still out there; maybe it’s worth writing one! I miss that clunky ms-dos overlay.

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Bleusilences t1_iuc5uxg wrote

Yeah, but for once, I kind of understand if the computer is running special software. It's ok as long as it doesn't connect to a network.

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