Why Apple avoided the global ‘blue screen’ problem

Chinese companies, along with Apple and partners who use their systems, are a small group not affected by the “blue screen” incident that spread globally over the weekend.

On July 19, a software update to Falcon Sensor by CrowdStrike, an American cybersecurity company, caused Microsoft Windows to crash and display a blue screen, informally known as a “blue screen of death” (BSOD).

Thousands of flights and train services have been canceled globally, including more than 1,800 in the US. At the same time, many other public and retail services were also disrupted.

However, there are still some businesses and technology companies that are “immune” to this incident. Among these, Apple and Chinese businesses can be mentioned, thanks to not being dependent on CrowdStrike.

“Closed garden” helps Apple

CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz took responsibility for the error and said a software fix had been released. He warned that it may take a while longer for the entire system to recover and return to normal.

Even so, the bug that caused this issue was only found in an update for Windows servers. Accordingly, Mac and Linux servers are not affected.

According to analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities, the fact that Apple’s 2.2 billion iOS devices are not affected by this cybersecurity incident is “the benefit of the Apple ecosystem.

Devices running iOS are not affected by Microsoft’s global outage. Photo: MacRumours.

“Everything is controlled within the four walls of Apple Park,” Ives told CNBC.

Apple and Windows use different operating systems. Specifically, iPhone, Mac and all other Apple products are strictly controlled by the company itself in terms of security and updates.

Meanwhile, for Windows, updates happen more frequently, and its software library is also larger than Apple’s ecosystem. Linux also has its own operating system and is not affected, Kurtz said in a statement on X.

According to market research firm IDC, CrowdStrike controls 18% of the $12.6 billion endpoint protection software market.

The company is only behind rival Microsoft with a market share of 25.8%. Endpoint protection provides centrally managed security solutions to protect endpoints such as servers, workstations, and mobile devices connected to the enterprise network.

Reuters quoted a number of industry analysts who have long raised questions about whether control of such critical, global software should be in the hands of only a handful of companies.

Unlike Microsoft, Apple rarely partners with third parties like CrowdStrike. Photo: Bloomberg.

The consequences of this are now clear. Half of Fortune 500 companies that use CrowdStrike software immediately fall victim to a series of devices that fail to boot.

Unlike Microsoft, Apple rarely partners with third parties like CrowdStrike. According to Ives, this makes Apple much less vulnerable to businesses that depend on the U.S. cybersecurity company.

China benefits from seeking technological autonomy

Despite China’s technological leaps and bounds, Microsoft’s Windows operating system remains irreplaceable in this billion-person market.

According to Rest of World, Windows is by far the most widely used product in China with an 80% market share.

What causes the Windows error to lead to a blue screen on a computer has become a hot topic on Chinese social networking platforms such as Weibo. Many foreign business offices across the country have been severely affected by this incident.

A handful of employees also expressed gratitude to the U.S. software giant for helping them end the working week earlier than expected.

Even the phrase “Thank you Microsoft for the early holiday” immediately became trending across the social networking site Weibo on Friday, when users posted images of blue error screens.

On Xiaohongshu, an Instagram-like social media platform in China, many users have complained about difficulties checking in at international hotels such as Sheraton, Marriott and Hyatt in Chinese cities.

Thanks to the use of cloud computing services from domestic enterprises, China’s public services are largely unaffected by the global network outage. Photo: Bloomberg.

Even so, China’s public services have been largely unaffected by the global network outage. Microsoft’s website and social media channels in China also did not issue any emergency announcements.

As of about 6 p.m. local time, there were no reports of infrastructure problems in China. At the same time, many airports in the Asia-Pacific region, from Hong Kong to Australia, were disrupted.

SCMP said that the “immunity” of many Chinese companies to the global Internet incident shows that the country has become less dependent on western service providers such as Microsoft or CrowdStrike.

In recent years, China has launched a campaign across government departments and key infrastructure operators with the aim of replacing foreign hardware and systems with products from domestic companies such as Alibaba, Tencent and Huawei.

“This is a testament to China’s strategic handling of foreign technology activities. In China, Microsoft is operated through local partner 21Vianet, which manages services independently of global infrastructure. This setup helps China’s essential services, such as banking and aviation, avoid global disruption,” said Josh Kennedy White, a cybersecurity expert in Singapore.