It was in the year 2002 when Windows XP was launched by Microsoft, becoming one of the most popular and best-received operating systems of the company then chaired by Bill Gates. Its official life cycle came on April 8, 2014, when Microsoft decided to withdraw official support. However, Windows XP is not only alive in our hearts, but also in Renfe’s Cercanías trains.
If you are users of Renfe transport (something even more possible thanks to the free subscriptions from the Government), you may have seen this curious easter egg. If not, let us tell you what happens when you have this outdated OS.
Screens work with Windows XP
It is specifically in the information screens that some models of Cercanías trains have where we can see when they restart that they run under a Windows XP operating system .
If we analyze the use of these screens, we will see that they simply show the direction of the train and the stops it makes , sometimes showing some advertising. In that sense, they are independent systems and completely isolated from the network, so they would not be so exposed to possible interference.
Obviously, there is still a risk, but the cost of upgrading the entire fleet of Cercanías trains in Spain would be too high compared to that minimum risk. Of course, there are more doubts about its operation, because anyone who uses these trains has probably already seen that they used XP in one of their constant restarts .
For the (multiple) answers of “if it works, why change it”: half the time it doesn’t work or it restarts at every stop. pic.twitter.com/Xmz8kNjX1l
– Alberto Fierro (@albertofierroal) November 11, 2021
The ITTFami user on YouTube has explained perfectly what the underlying problem is: «This happens in the pre-series Civias, which set up a ‘Watchdog’ system on the computers that move these screens. Apparently at some point they have been installed a Windows XP image that does not have the corresponding program installed to reset the ‘Watchdog’ reboot timer, so the computers restart thinking they are locked. Fixing it would be as easy as installing that program. Later Civias use a GNU/Linux operating system to which the ‘Watchdog’ has been adapted, so you only see them reboot on rare occasions (and reboots are usually caused by physical failures of the computer itself).
Is there a danger of being without support?
We already know that without the critical security updates in Windows XP, every PC is vulnerable to dangerous viruses, spyware, and other malicious software. In this way, we can say that there is a risk that information and data of any organization, in this case Renfe, may be stolen or damaged .
As long as it has no external connection and is completely isolated as if they show the stops in a Windows 95.
Engineering is also knowing when you need to upgrade and when you don’t, even when you have a system that is no longer supported. https://t.co/RxXWHOczN7
– David Fernández (@naroh) November 11, 2021
It should be remembered that Windows XP has not only been withdrawn from official support since 2014, but a year later Microsoft’s malware removal tool also ceased to be operational , which would complicate the removal of an infection.
As we said before, as long as they are isolated and protected computers, any risk of interference is minimal, so it seems that it will take a long time to see those computers with Windows XP disappear.
