22 Jun
2001
22 Jun
'01
1:12 p.m.
Jeff Hellige wrote:
I dunno, I suspect they got caught up in all the COTS (Commercial
Off The Shelf) stuff. The problem there is that you end paying a
bunch of programmers, managers, middle-managers and still others
to evaluate COTS code and pay them
the same as you would to develop it themselves. Surely, no one
should try and reinvent the buisness PC. But, battleship control, like
remote sensing satellite control is proto-typical in nature. At least to
the level where a specific product has a limited narrow application
compared to said PC.
Straying a bit
off topic, can someone explain why the Navy, a branch of
the US military, requiring rock solid, uncompromising stability in the
systems that control their vessels, in their infinite procedural and
compliance wisdom, would choose Windows NT to control battleships?
Or was that just a sick joke? I know it wasn't, but I'd like to believe
it was ;)
If you're referring to battleships specifically, such as the
4 Iowa class, they've all been gone since about '94. I doubt NT had
much, if anything, to do with whatever micros they had onboard. Even
Enterprise didn't get the bulk of it's NT workstations/LAN until well
into '97. If you're referring to warships in general, yes it's sad
but true that NT appears in a few places that truly should have more
stability and security than that. LIke many other large networks,
the Navy's has been going towards a 'one size fits all' mentality.
Of course, we all know that type of thinking never works out.
I could not have said it better myself. :)
Eric
Jeff
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