Police Still Using Windows XP On Fingerprint Scanner

Hey, at least it wasn't a pirated version of Windows XP.

Now I realize the machine might very well be not connected to the Internet or any national or international fingerprint database. Sneakernet could be in effect here for transporting prints. And I know it could be on its own VLAN and not linked to the nearby Windows 7 machine used for booking.

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Isn't XP embedded supported through 2016?

ha ha ha...

If anyone has worked IT in niche markets like law enforcement or medical this is not surprising at all.

A lot of the software vendors offer horrible solutions when looked at from an enterprise perspective. It is routine to require admin rights to run, no possible automated/silent installation, manual only configurations of unique db entries or workstationsIDs, full blown sql server or IIS server requirements for clients, batch/vbs scripted updates/patches etc.

These vendors are generally small serving a very specific niche market like LE or Medical.

I current work in local Government and our sheriffs department has tons of software like this... To control cells, phone calls, inmate "money" for the cantina, fingerprinting etc etc etc.

Previously I worked for a medical company and they had a piece of software whose vendor worked out of their home... We would have to deploy keys every 3 months to keep our license proper... About 30% of the time this process would not work, a typical support call was to a lady I assume mother who would literally yell for her son over the phone to fix the issue in which he would send a new "key".

DeathFromBelow said:

Isn't XP embedded supported through 2016?

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And POSReady 2009 to 2019. That's basically is a further stripped down XP.

Author admits to really not knowing anything about the system he is taking a picture of. Not sure why this is even article worthy. Not sure why I clicked on it.

I actually work for the company who makes these scanners. 90% of our systems are using windows 7. Its actually up to the police stations to buy new systems so a few are still running windows XP. And yes every system is connected to the State and FBI via hardwire routers so an outside party getting in isn't going to happen. Even if you did get into the system at most all you would get is the personal info of the last 1000 people scanned.

dandirk said:

ha ha ha...

If anyone has worked IT in niche markets like law enforcement or medical this is not surprising at all.

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I'm in the same quagmire. Coders are always admin...and Windows 8 sucks.

dandirk said:

ha ha ha...

If anyone has worked IT in niche markets like law enforcement or medical this is not surprising at all.

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Fully Agreed. Also the XP no longer being support by Microsoft in many cases does not really make a difference. What I mean is we were not permitted to run updates on the XP machine anyways because that could break the fragile software.

Probably because they don't want some 3rd party company charging them thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of dollars for some new finger printing software where the only real difference is it runs on Windows 8 instead of Windows XP.

Clear case of it fucking works, why change it.

I can confirm a small city west of Phoenix still has XP on the fingerprint readers. It's supported by a company called Morpho. They're dependent on that company to upgrade.