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Government Funds Secret Sustainable Computing

Posted by Hemos on from the getting-the-money-in dept.

SEWilco writes "OSDN's NewsForge reports that Carnegie Mellon University has started a Sustainable Computing Consortium to improve the quality and security of software. The only news release is that NASA gave CMU $23 million to help create dependable software. SCC members get an internal-use license for SCC software. So taxpayers are paying millions to create proprietary software, and companies get access for a few thousand dollars. (There is some blurring between CMU's SCC and CMU's High Dependability Computing Consortium, although HDCC's web site has been idle for a year.)"

5 of 192 comments (clear)

  1. Re:why only carnegie mellon by freality · · Score: 2, Informative

    CMU's computer science department is top-notch. Their Software Engineering Institute is the home of software process, which has the goal of turning computer programming into an engineering discipline (e.g. measurable, repeatable) instead of an art (e.g. "wow, great hack").

    They also have one of the best robotics departments, with a heavy emphasis on industrial robotics applications, embedded systems, etc. (as opposed to MIT's Rodney Brook's COG behavior work).

    In fact, CMU as a whole has a very heavy slant towards Industrial Application. Their business school turns out poor managers, but good Operations Researchers. The Humanities Department is known for its Social Policy Theory.

    Give CMU millions and you get back real, usable results.

    Also, it's in Pittsburgh.. ya know, Da 'Burgh. Stillers!

    On the downside, the weather there sucks.

  2. I actually serve on the committee by quinto2000 · · Score: 5, Informative

    That is currently reviewing Carnegie Mellon's restricted research policy. I'll bring this up. Just so that you all know, this research must be with one of CMU's "semi-autonomous units," and no students are participating in the research, otherwise it could not have cleared our Provost. At any rate, this is interesting information to have.

    --
    Ceci n'est pas un post
  3. Re:why only carnegie mellon by SEWilco · · Score: 2, Informative

    Lycos...and CMU uses Google for their site search. Good to see they're avoiding NIH problems.

  4. Re:Free the software by HisMother · · Score: 2, Informative
    Tang and moon rubber are commodities, and the government doesn't manufacture and sell commodities, so this argument is specious. The gov't wouldn't and couldn't produce Tang and give it away. But as we all are so fond of pointing out here, bits are entirely different from bricks, and software, therefore, follows different rules.

    If agency X gives away its software for free, then users can use it for free, end of story. They no longer need to buy the software from your company. In a big market like OSs or C++ compilers or what have you, this is probably like a piss in the ocean, and it doesn't matter. But in a small vertical market, where each competitor may only have a few customers, losing even one can really hurt. Note that by giving something away that another company was selling, the agency would be actively shrinking the economy -- reducing the GNP by the cost of unsold software.

    Another correspondent replied to my first post, saying something like "the government doesn't owe any individual small company anything." But they do, as I said. It is a sworn part of their misson not to run any companies out of business. In fact, most government agencies have large and complex purchasing bureacracies dedicated to making sure that their spending habits don't put any individual businesses at a disadvantage, especially small and minority-owned businesses.

    --
    Cantankerous old coot since 1957.
  5. Re:Free the software by SEWilco · · Score: 2, Informative
    The government doesn't make many commodities, although maps come to mind, but is very influential on electric, telephone, and radio/TV industries, as well as all the subsidized farming industries. (Speaking of maps, without government maps we'd have much more difficulty creating GPS devices, outdoor sports maps, population trends...would your fishing be more efficient if you had to pay $5,000 for a USGS topological map instead of a few dollars?)

    Government agencies and researchers are constantly doing things which can put companies out of business. Let's see current stories on CNN...

    • Genetic research may help anthrax mystery. That's bad for the drug industry, hospitals and cleaning services.NSF funding, using results of research from 3 US and a UK government agency.
    • Judge orders VeriSign to stop ad campaign. That sounds a little restrictive on business.
    • Wearable computers enhance the world. Threatening tour guides, makers of sprinkler system maps, pipeline markers, and jet engine mechanics.
    • ISPs seek to void ruling on police searches. ISPs are complaining that a dozen police hanging around each day could be bad for business.
    • House set to renew welfare program. Bad for lawyers, companies that need cheap unskilled labor, companies that pay taxes used for welfare, competitors of companies which print welfare forms, the extinct creditor's prison industry.
    • GOP leader skips Bush meeting over Crusader. Millions of dollars cut off from companies working on Crusader, and competitors who weren't getting those millions.
    • White House won't defer import duties. Anyone need explanation of how imports or duties affect businesses?
    Many of the conflicts are because many researchers are looking for solutions to what they perceive as problems but companies are dependent upon. Higher car fuel efficiency reduces amount of gas sold, fewer visitors to gas station convenience stores, less work for the drivers of fuel trucks...