The cold war is over so we can just relax.
July 13, 2001 12:28 PM Subscribe
The cold war is over so we can just relax. The russians don't lose track of nuclear material because they still use archaic manual methods rather than buggy software the United States gave them. [via comp.risks]
NASA: $millions of research into producing Fisher Space Pen
USSR: pencils
posted by holgate at 1:20 PM on July 13, 2001
USSR: pencils
posted by holgate at 1:20 PM on July 13, 2001
Ah well.
I read a few years ago about how NASA was fighting a losing battle against "data rot", when trying to convert 1970s data into a format that would outlast the systems on which it was created. Not because of cost, but because the rate of technological development outstripped the time taken to make the conversion. It's like Tristram Shandy.
So now, government agencies just try to design against obsolescence.
posted by holgate at 4:35 PM on July 13, 2001
I read a few years ago about how NASA was fighting a losing battle against "data rot", when trying to convert 1970s data into a format that would outlast the systems on which it was created. Not because of cost, but because the rate of technological development outstripped the time taken to make the conversion. It's like Tristram Shandy.
So now, government agencies just try to design against obsolescence.
posted by holgate at 4:35 PM on July 13, 2001
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Microsoft anything is not critical-grade software.
But seriously, am I the only one working in the software industry who is generally appalled by the quality of stuff out there? Does it scare the crap out of anyone else that software this unreliable is pressed into this important a job?
posted by Vetinari at 1:01 PM on July 13, 2001