Faulty hardware found on shuttle

"Dave Michelson" wrote in message
news:18P9c.40501$li5.8426@pd7tw3no...
You might re-read his post. He was referring to code that "runs the
shuttle",
not code that just happens to be going along for the ride.

A subtle difference, but it makes all the difference.

I wouldn't want the shuttle to depend on Windows, although XP sounds like a
vast improvement.

In article ,
"Scott Hedrick" wrote:

I wouldn't want the shuttle to depend on Windows, although XP sounds like a
vast improvement.

XP *is* a vast improvement. Nonetheless, a screwy WDM sound or video
driver can still BSOD the system. My Tascam US-122 USB audio box on my
P4 with hyperthreading enabled will hit a blue screen within a couple
seconds of starting to record. Who could think that a USB peripheral
could kill the entire system? Yet it can, repeatedly and often.
Alternatively, before Nvidia got their drivers figured out, nv4.dll
killed my XP Pro box dozens of times within the first couple of months
of the MS Public Preview Program prior to the initial XP launch.

--
Herb Schaltegger, B.S., J.D.
Reformed Aerospace Engineer
Columbia Loss FAQ:
http://www.io.com/~o_m/columbia_loss_faq_x.html

My 2 cents is that Windows NT/XP is a perfectly fine home or business
operating system when used in conjunction with responsible use of firewalls,
and when configured not to try to open any darn file as an executable. There
is a large base of applications available for it.

On the other hand, Windows should not be used for avionics, patient
monitoring, and other systems where a crash or security failure can kill
someone. It also shouldn't be used in an application where the cost of
intrusion is high (electronic voting, banking, stock exchange) without
incredibly careful configuration management.

"Scott Hedrick" wrote in message
...

"Neil Gerace" wrote in message
. au...
A lot of people *are* forced to use Windows because it is the only OS
that
has apps (also by MS) that can access their data files.

So MicroSoft puts a gun to their head? Horse****. They *choose* to buy and
use MS because it's easier than using one of the alternatives.

A further lot of
people are forced to use Windows because their boss bought it for them.

More horse****. If you don't want to use Windows, change jobs. If you
don't
change jobs, it's because *you choose* to continue to use MS products. If
the use of MS products offends you, you're free to stop, but that *choice*
will have consequences.

OK, what word do you want to use for "instructed to use as a condition of
further employment"? They're not "forced to use Windows" the way the Jews of
Spain were forced to convert (at least publicly), but hey, they still had a
choice too. Having a gun to your head still gives you a choice, and if you
feel strongly enough about it, you will decide to let your brains be blown
out. I think it is a valid moral position to object to using a particular
OS, to try and persuade others not to use it, and still to use it when one
is instructed to. Just like one can object to a sitting president and
confine oneself to trying to persuade others not to vote for him to be
re-elected.

Since I have on my desktop three non-MS Office suites that easily read the
Office files I produce, this is clearly demonstrable nonsense. My system,
which runs Win98SE, came with StarOffice. I also have OpenOffice and
EasyOffice (which I include on my real estate book's CD to use the MS
Office
files I've created). I have yet to have a problem, and I use Office 2000.
I'm about to add another workstation to my office, and it will have
EasyOffice.

Star office does not handle certain Windows formatting correctly. (Most
notably, certain table formats.)

XP *is* a vast improvement. Nonetheless, a screwy WDM sound or video
driver can still BSOD the system.

I've only heard rumours of OSes that could withstand a substantial driver
bug, never seen one - and I've seen a lot. So the driver vulnerability is
not something MS can easily cure, except by leaning on the vendors and by
supplying you, their customer, with information on what drivers are "good"
(the hardware compatibility list, or whatever it's called).

The other thing is that from a conceptual point of view, all those bells
and whistles and their backward compatibility stuff is a millstone around
the neck of security and reliability, fragile and always strained such
that the smallest impulse will lead to it breaking. That is almost incure-
able without redoing large parts from scratch, putting some restrictions
on the users (e.g., the normally logged-in user does _not_ have administrator
rights), and forfeiting large parts of backward compatibility in the process.
Hey, there goes MS's business model out the window.

Jan

"Ami Silberman" wrote in message
...
My 2 cents is that Windows NT/XP is a perfectly fine home or business
operating system when used in conjunction with responsible use of
firewalls,
and when configured not to try to open any darn file as an executable.

The law should be changed to emphasize that the user is responsible for
ensuring that their computer is properly secured, and that it is at the
least civil negligence if your computer passes a virus and you have taken no
serious effort at securing it. Failure to use anti-virus and firewall
technology should be prima facie evidence of this. It's one thing to install
such (and keep them properly updated) and they fail from a particularly
devious virus, and another to remain ignorant or lazy and fail to do so.

On the other hand, Windows should not be used for avionics, patient
monitoring, and other systems where a crash or security failure can kill
someone.

There are some cases where specialized operating systems make sense,
especially where Windoze is too large.

It also shouldn't be used in an application where the cost of
intrusion is high (electronic voting, banking, stock exchange) without
incredibly careful configuration management.

And, in some cases, paper backup. A convenience store where I worked had an
ancient dot-matrix printer that printed out a line for every credit card
transaction.

Herb Schaltegger wrote:

XP *is* a vast improvement. Nonetheless, a screwy WDM sound or video
driver can still BSOD the system. My Tascam US-122 USB audio box on my
P4 with hyperthreading enabled will hit a blue screen within a couple
seconds of starting to record. Who could think that a USB peripheral
could kill the entire system? Yet it can, repeatedly and often.
Alternatively, before Nvidia got their drivers figured out, nv4.dll
killed my XP Pro box dozens of times within the first couple of months
of the MS Public Preview Program prior to the initial XP launch.



Every time I read a post like this, I laugh at thinking about just what
archeologists are going to make of all this terminology a couple of
hundred years down the road....it will be about as comprehensible as
Etruscan. :-)

Pat

rk wrote:

Star trackers, scanners, etc., are rather common devices, even for small
spacecraft. Didn't the SR-71 have a star tracker?


Yup, as did the U-2, Snark missile, B-58 Hustler, and wing pylons for
Hound Dog missiles on the B-52; I'm sure there are more than that, but
those are the ones that I can name off the top of my head- The Soviet
"Buran" giant cruise missile also used one.

Pat

In article ,
Pat Flannery wrote:

Every time I read a post like this, I laugh at thinking about just what
archeologists are going to make of all this terminology a couple of
hundred years down the road....it will be about as comprehensible as
Etruscan. :-)


Hell, Pat, in 200 years, I'm sure folks will still be bitching about
Windows XP 2204 being too bloated and crash-prone to run ANY of the
latest 4D-games in 37.1-channel psionic surround-think. I mean, come
ON! Win2200 rulz! W00T!

;-P

--
Herb Schaltegger, B.S., J.D.
Reformed Aerospace Engineer
Columbia Loss FAQ:
http://www.io.com/~o_m/columbia_loss_faq_x.html