Gatwick shuttle screen suffers pre-flight nerves
- Reference: 1772011813
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2026/02/25/airport_bork/
- Source link:
[1]
Click to enlarge
The black screen of bork was spotted by an eagle-eyed Register reader, hopefully about to jet off somewhere a little less rainy than the UK, who remarked: "At least it didn't say anything about a disk in drive A:."
Thank heavens for small mercies, although the sight of the screen is unlikely to inspire confidence in either an impending flight or the mode of transportation. We'd say it's gone off the rails, but that's a phrase best not uttered next to an overhead guide-tracked transport.
The Gatwick transit is a shuttle connecting the North and South Terminals that opened in 1987. Enthusiasts can ride any time without needing a ticket.
[2]Hotel's rotary switchboard so retro it predates the concept of crashing
[3]Healthcare security: Write login details on whiteboard, hope for the best
[4]Windows 11 Start menu makes unscheduled stop in Saint Moritz
[5]Penguin-powered platform board keels over at Alpine station
As for the screen, the message "Operating System not found" indicates that something is amiss with whatever is running the display. It might be innocuous, like a corrupted Master Boot Record, though "innocuous" is relative. It could also signal a hopelessly broken disk drive.
What it isn't doing is entertaining or informing passengers as they wait for the next shuttle to arrive. Microsoft isn't the only company with a progress bar of lies.
Then again, after a long flight and the zombification that comes from hours in an aluminum tube smelling of feet and bad food, "Operating System not found" could just as easily describe the traveler as the display.
[6]
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[1] https://regmedia.co.uk/2026/02/24/bork_6.jpg
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/23/bork_goes_retro_with_a/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/19/human_whiteboard_bork/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/18/st_moritz_bork/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/15/swiss_railway_bork/
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aZ7WVHq8HkUz349Gi53czAAAARI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[7] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
1980s infrastructure
You do realise that the majority of IT infrastructure used in airports was built in the 1980s and hasn't really been updated much since?
Some modern Windows terminal for a service like a shuttle should be the least of our worries!
As a friend pointed out recently, a lot of critical infrastructure in both banking and travel was essentially developed at least 4 decades ago. By people who are either now dead or long since retired. I wonder for how long it'll all just "keep working"?!
Re: 1980s infrastructure
Knowing several of the folks who built such infrastructure in the 1980s, I can assure you that reports of their deaths have been greatly exaggerated, and that most are still consultants in the field.
Around here (SF Bay Area), people are saying that 60 is the new 40 ...
Win 10 rebooting
On a Potsdam-Elstal bus last night. Sadly I was unable to photograph it.