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Off Topic: BORK TAG IS BACK!
XP-era Windows spotted haunting London's driverless railway
BORK!BORK!BORK! We're big fans of retro computing here at Vulture Central, and so it is with a certain delight that we can report XP-era Windows has been spotted disgracing itself on London's Docklands Light Railway. A DLR platform information screen shows a Windows-style error dialog and system desktop. A London Docklands …
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Saturday 13th June 2026 21:21 GMT sarusa
Indeed (I worked on it with at least one product), so I decided to look it up, and in typical Microsoft (this was before Microslop) fashion there are at least six embedded versions of it (thanks Wiki):
- Windows XP for Embedded Systems - bog standard XP, with embedded only license
- Windows XP Embedded (XPe) - this is what you're probably thinking of, and most people think of. It's what I worked with. It's componentized XP so you can only include what you need. It was used in clocks, slot machines, cash registers, ATMs, arcade games, NAS, navigation systems (like TomTom), and yes, railroads.
- Windows Embedded for Point of Service (WEPOS) - focused on cash registers, ATMs, gas pumps, etc.
- Windows Embedded Standard 2009 - Basically updated XPe with new stuff like .NET 3.5, WMP 11, IE7, etc.
- Windows Embedded POSReady 2009 - Similarly updated WEPOS.
- Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs - thin XP variant for dinosaur PCs (back to Pentium 1). Okay technically this is not embedded, but the hardware's close enough.
These were all eventually succeeded by Windows 7 versions and then Windows 10 versions. For obvious reasons of it being a flaky piece of shite there are no Windows 11 versions.
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Sunday 14th June 2026 18:09 GMT DaveK23
Re: dumb things like tills and signs
Every time I go to the Co-Op, I see tills displaying a JS error pop-up about some object not being found, and asking whether or not to keep running scripts on the current page. Because the customer-facing screens are touch-sensitive, I sometimes amuse myself by clicking on 'yes' or 'no'. It never seems to make any real difference.
I'll try and remember to snap a photo of one next time I see it, unless ElReg has already covered it. It's been happening for at least a decade without being fixed, IIRC.
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Saturday 13th June 2026 17:45 GMT bernmeister
Does it matter?
If your system is not exposed to the Internet or anything similar and your hardware is functional there is absolutely no need to upgrade Windows. Upgrading could result in some hardware becoming non-functional due to loss of driver support. Dont upgrade for the sake of it.
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Saturday 13th June 2026 20:29 GMT Marty McFly
Re: Does it matter?
Totally. This whole industry is a giant self-licking ice cream cone.
Our software has defects so that you will buy support. Then we will drop support for the previous version so that you feel compelled to upgrade just to get security patches. Oh, and the new software needs new hardware because there is a magic security chip you need too.
What, you don't believe me?? Let me expire this certificate as a security precaution, for your own safety.
Bork that!
But I just want my sign to do the same thing it has always done!
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Saturday 13th June 2026 20:44 GMT Sandtitz
Re: Does it matter?
Depending on the age of this XP installation, you would have to update the innards anyway. XP minimum requirements was 64MB RAM - even with way more there's no practical replacement, and in a 24/7 available terminal you'd need to schedule updates anyway - tricky.
Old, unsupported OS version is fine as long as you also keep a dev environment that target it.
Like all computers, this public terminal should be segmented into its own VLAN and firewalled to absolute minimum possible access. Judging from the old looking (hard to see) VNC icon - likely zero encryption - I wouldn't bet on best practices.
