I agree that a small, special purpose OS would probably be more suitable for safety-critical systems. On the other hand I highly doubt that the safety-culture is better at Boeing than in the Linux ecosystem.
Linux and the open source community may be chaotic … but companies like Boeing are completely corporate and they will risk or even sacrifice safety if it means making a few extra million or preventing the loss of millions in profits. They’ll calculate how much it will cost to make settlements with the families of the dead or in to issuing changes or recalls and figure out which is cheaper … pay off the dead or fix the problem. If paying off the dead is cheaper, they don’t mind watching the body count.
I agree that a small, special purpose OS would probably be more suitable for safety-critical systems. On the other hand I highly doubt that the safety-culture is better at Boeing than in the Linux ecosystem.
Linux and the open source community may be chaotic … but companies like Boeing are completely corporate and they will risk or even sacrifice safety if it means making a few extra million or preventing the loss of millions in profits. They’ll calculate how much it will cost to make settlements with the families of the dead or in to issuing changes or recalls and figure out which is cheaper … pay off the dead or fix the problem. If paying off the dead is cheaper, they don’t mind watching the body count.