Dow Jones Plunge Fueled by Overwhelmed Computers

cloudscout writes "The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped over 400 points today. While there were various valid financial reasons for such a decline, some of the blame is being placed on computer systems that couldn't keep up with the abnormally high volume at the New York Stock Exchange and the resulting tremor as they switched over to a backup system."

NYSE: Microsoft (R) powered (R)

[hxnwix]

It looks like somebody forgot to change the gigantic SQL batteries embedded in the side of the NYSE building...

This is why...

[tomstdenis]

I spend a lot more than I save :-)

The Dow may go down, but a pizza is still as tasty hehehehe.

I wonder how much of this load is due to low volume day trader movement?

Tom

See...

[ZonkerWilliam]

This is what happens when I sell one lousy share of google!

Re:Ok...

[BanjoBob]

I thought they were still on Windows Server 2003 running MS SQL Server.

Now, had they been running Linux and MySQL on an IBM monster box things would have probably been different

Re:Chaos theory, anyone?

[Nykon]

A butterfly flaps it's wings in Asia , and the dow drop 400 points in the US... brilliant.

Your Nobel Prize is in the mail. Don't call us. We'll cal you.

Re:Blaming?

[stevesliva]

Computers never make errors.

Sure they do... just need to bombard them with alpha particles.

Re:Chaos theory, anyone?

[pzs]

> A butterfly flaps it's wings in Asia , and the dow drop 400 points in the US... brilliant.

Of course, the usual moron response to this is to say "why don't we just kill all the butterflies in Asia?"

Peter

Hal? HAL!!!

[Malakusen]

Let me put it this way, Mr Amer. The 9000 series is the most reliable computer ever made. No 9000 computer has ever made a mistake or distorted information. We are all, by any practical definition of the words, foolproof and incapable of error.

Re:Chaos theory, anyone?

[Anonymous Coward]

Bacon!

Re:It's voodoo

[D-Fens]

It's an entirely different kind of computing.

Oblig Futurama quote

[Cervantes]

Dr. Zoidberg: Once again, the conservative, sandwich-heavy portfolio pays off for the hungry investor!

Re:It's voodoo

[Ctrl-Z]

It's an entirely different kind of computing.

Which computer and OS are at fault?

[Anonymous Coward]

What is the brand of the computer that malfunctioned in calculating the Dow Jones index? Also, what operating system was the offending computer running?

I hope that the answer is not "Linux on top of HP hardware."