"One would think that software used in war machines would be doubled with two distinct processors"
In the aerospace industry, even duplex systems are considered too risky. Quadruplex is the norm; with four computers, if one fails the remaining three can still "vote". Safety critical software cannot be trusted to just one computer as there is always the possiblity of failure.
Many modern [unstable,agile] aircraft are not controllable by a human without assistance from the Flight Control Computer, so a total failure of the Flight Control System is unthinkable. As far as pilot intuition is concerned, this can be worse than useless for an unstable airframe. There is a condition, not limited to unstable aircraft, called Pilot Induced Oscillation, where a pilot's "corrective" actions cause unstable dynamics to occur, sending the plane out of control. Just because a human is involved doesn't necessarily mean that s/he has the best solution to some very complex equations of motion
That was Lockheed Martin. NASA use a consistent
set of units appropriate for scientific work.
LM use that rubbish that the British dumped on
them and then abandoned.
In all honesty, if you can get the Brits to use
a French system, there must be a pretty good
reason for it!
Do you honestly believe that even the holier than
holy US respects copyright law when it comes to
military technology? I think it's a fairly safe
assumption that the intellectual property of
foreign nations is not a high priority for any
country when the defence of the state is at stake.
Considering that the Flight Control System dictates the in-service performance limits of the aircraft, don't you think that the military might have at least a slight incentive to keep it quiet?
Next question, what would be the point of open-sourcing it? It's not as if you could just port the code from an old aircraft to a new one. It may surprise you, but the code running on a Tornado is not the same as that on a Harrier or Typhoon. Each aircraft has different requirements (those laws of aerodynamics again!) and the control code has to be tested against those requirements.
On the subject of the supernova evidence, is there any actual basis to the assertion that all Type 1A supernovae are of equal brightness? A tremendous amount of cosmology appears to hinge on this assumption.
But that scheme will only be profitable until the invention of "The Trigger" (Arthur C. Clarke and Michael Kube-McDowell).
A very good book in which the authors explore the impact of a device which can neutralise ammunition.
Perhaps you could then sell your domain name for vast quantities of e-cash to an oil company.
Absolutely not! If you have the ability to change
your post after I reply to it, you have the ability
to change what I say. You can see this in
action when people reply to.sigs.
Ask 10,000 people if you like. If they are from the south of England - "if you think that, you've got another think coming". Views from the north of England (like Sheffield) don't count. They don't speak proper English up there anyway. Views from the US certainly don't count. If you want to speak English then do so. If you want to change it, then call it American. -1 flamebait, -1 off-topic
And exactly how long do you think it will take for Western countries to fold without oil? The Arab nations may as well try and sell us sand, because that'a all the failed economies will be able to afford. Witness the recent chaos in Europe resulting from restriction of the supply of oil for an incredibly short period of time. The assertion that a strong Christian belief system is fundamental to a sound economy is just plain nonsense. Whilst it may appear that way in the American bible belt, there are highly successful economies in which religion really isn't a factor. UK is a case in point - do you realise how many atheists, agnostics and apathetics there are in the UK? There is little doubt that they outnumber practicing Christians by a very large ratio.
As a Brit working in the US, I have to pay US taxes but don't get a vote - anyone for tea? Anyway, the Brits at work today had our own vote, just to see, the results: Bush 47% Gore 47% Nader 6%
the crash of one doesn't mean the crash of the others Odd. I've always found that an IE crash tends to crash the entire system. Maybe I've just used poorly configured NT boxes.
If GPL software becomes so popular that it becomes difficult not to use it If GPLed s/w becomes this prevalent, then I think the need for the restrictive licence will cease to exist. However, we are a still a long way from that particular Utopia.
The developer is not forced to do anything. If the developer chooses to make the software available under the GPL, as much freedom is assured to future recipients as the initial recipient gets. What freedom are you giving someone if you don't give them the source code?
What if you're an administrator at a college campus? Do *you* have to distribute the source of EMACS, just because a programming class uses it as an editor? What happens if you modified it slightly to work on you network? I don't really think that this would be as great a burden as you imply. Leaving the patch in a publicly accessible part of the network would probably satisfy any requirements of the GPL in this case (and a pointer to the Emacs dowload site maybe?). I'm also not entirely sure if the GPL would actually apply in this case; allowing users to run an application on your own network is arguably not distribution, so copyright law may well not apply.
Isn't this the standard Microsoft line for every complaint? Have you ever considered that this "myth" may have arisen because computers do, in fact, crash on people?
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In the aerospace industry, even duplex systems are considered too risky. Quadruplex is the norm; with four computers, if one fails the remaining three can still "vote". Safety critical software cannot be trusted to just one computer as there is always the possiblity of failure.
Many modern [unstable,agile] aircraft are not controllable by a human without assistance from the Flight Control Computer, so a total failure of the Flight Control System is unthinkable. As far as pilot intuition is concerned, this can be worse than useless for an unstable airframe. There is a condition, not limited to unstable aircraft, called Pilot Induced Oscillation, where a pilot's "corrective" actions cause unstable dynamics to occur, sending the plane out of control. Just because a human is involved doesn't necessarily mean that s/he has the best solution to some very complex equations of motion
-- flossie
http telnet
In all honesty, if you can get the Brits to use a French system, there must be a pretty good reason for it!
-- flossie
http telnet
-- flossie
http telnet
Next question, what would be the point of open-sourcing it? It's not as if you could just port the code from an old aircraft to a new one. It may surprise you, but the code running on a Tornado is not the same as that on a Harrier or Typhoon. Each aircraft has different requirements (those laws of aerodynamics again!) and the control code has to be tested against those requirements.
-- flossie
http telnet
Besides, if you want complex interaction:
A hydraulic line failed.
The hydraulic flow to a heat exchanger ceased.
The engine bleed air passing through that hx was not cooled sufficiently.
The "cooling" air to the avionics was too hot.
The processor over-heated.
The over-heated processor failed to respond correctly.
Perhaps.
-- flossie
http telnet
-- flossie
http telnet
calculating dependencies
creating compression libraries
loading compression libraries
#### done(1).
#### done(2).
#### done(3).
#### done(4).
#### done(5).
#### done(6).
#### done(7).
#### done(8).
#### done(9).
linking...done.
installation complete.
-- flossie
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-- flossie
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-- flossie
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-- flossie
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-- flossie
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-- flossie
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-- flossie
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-1 flamebait, -1 off-topic
-- flossie
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-- flossie
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Anyway, the Brits at work today had our own vote, just to see, the results:
Bush 47% Gore 47% Nader 6%
-- flossie
http telnet
-- flossie
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Odd. I've always found that an IE crash tends to crash the entire system. Maybe I've just used poorly configured NT boxes.
-- flossie
http telnet
If GPLed s/w becomes this prevalent, then I think the need for the restrictive licence will cease to exist. However, we are a still a long way from that particular Utopia.
-- flossie
http telnet
-- flossie
http telnet
I don't really think that this would be as great a burden as you imply. Leaving the patch in a publicly accessible part of the network would probably satisfy any requirements of the GPL in this case (and a pointer to the Emacs dowload site maybe?). I'm also not entirely sure if the GPL would actually apply in this case; allowing users to run an application on your own network is arguably not distribution, so copyright law may well not apply.
-- flossie
http telnet
An interesting article, but not particularly news-worthy yet.
-- flossie
http telnet
-- flossie
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Have you ever considered that this "myth" may have arisen because computers do, in fact, crash on people?
-- flossie
http telnet