... Windows 95 rides again ~

@ETC(SS) will know what happens in the US Navy, but British submarines run on "Windows for Submarines", which is an iteration of Windows XP.

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The Navy used to get charged a fortune by Microsoft for specialised submarine controllers for Windows for Submarines, until a submariner tried plugging in his XBox controller and discovered that it worked. He saved them a huge amount of money.

 

A former Marine, I held back telling my NCOs about a console patch that kept our IBM mainframe computer from having to be rebooted which took nearly an hour. One day, I did not want to wait and before the machine was rebooted but on the way to DOWN, I asked if I could try something ... it worked and the cat was out of the bag.

This led to a $600 performance award and delayed my getting out of the Marines a week early ... I would rather have gotten out early. First term Marines are clever and often develop inexpensive but effective techniques that are shared with other listed Marines and hid from 'the powers that be.'

Bob Wilson

 

ah...MIL-SPEC stories.
Sometimes they're just a way to plus-up a cost-plus-fixed fee contract.
Other times, there's a REASON you don't want to use a consumer-grade joystick to control a billion dollar national asset.

Every time we were operating at test depth (or deeper) or otherwise near the edge of our safe operating envelope I would remind newbies that every bit of their vastly complex submarine was built and overhauled by the lowest bidder......
AT Mare Island Naval Shipyard....
California....
During the 60's!

I will pass on commenting on USN hardware/software afloat mostly because my knowledge on the subject has aged-out much more quickly than my Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement.
Hell.
They're going after former PRESIDENTS on that stuff!!!!

The first two things I did as a private contractor before embarking on an exciting and rewarding career in telecommunications was building a miniscule piece-part for a Seawolf submarine, and battery packs for deployable instruments, all made from C.O.T.S. or Commercial Off The Shelf stuff......including (naturally) a certain copper-top battery.
When asked why we couldn't just make the instruments equipped with end-user replaceable battery compartments I got the same treatment that Tucker Carlson might expect at a CNN employee's retirement party.

Every time somebody comments on the ethics (or even veracity) of telecommunications advertisements I'm re-reminded that........I've worked for sleazier folks.