Windows XP spotted on Royal Navy's spanking new aircraft carrier [View all]

[Denzil_DC]

Last edited Wed Dec 16, 2015, 08:19 PM - Edit history (1)

Ooh look. The Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier The Queen Elizabeth is using Windows XP.

The ship is a year from completion, so there is plenty of time yet to bin it for a more up-to-date and secure version of the venerable operating system.

The Ministry of Defence is not returning our calls, but this could always be, as one reader says, “comedy wallpaper on a technician’s laptop...”

You can check out the BBC News report about The Queen Elizabeth here. The XP wallpaper makes its appearance at 1m.25s.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/12/15/windows_xp_royal_navy/?mt=1450287631060

Now, my eyes aren't sharp enough and I'm not familiar enough with newer Windows desktop appearances, to confirm that this is what that mix of laptops and desktops is running (not to mention how integrated they are into the rest of HMS Queen Elizabeth's systems), but even if I take them at their word, it's not that unusual for the military to use older, tried-and-tested OSes.

But still ...