As the article points out (along with several posters above), the warranties on drives in PCs and other devices (the vast majority of HD sales) were already that of the device in which they came, which is generally one year or less anyway.
Honestly, at today's prices I view hard drives as twinkies--they're cheap and they'll probably last 3 years anyway. There's plenty of worse things to get upset about than only getting a 1 year warranty with a $79 80GB 7200 RPM hard drive.
...for the Constitution class starship I've got parked in orbit. I guess I'll just have to slap on a coat of black paint and hang over the magnetic poles until I can steal a real cloaking device from the Romulans.
In the shuttle, we tried to build a Swiss Army Knife and that's basically what we got--a collection of tools in one platform that sort of work, but not as well as a real screwdriver or a real pliers. Fortunately, the shuttle has proven to be a quite good mobile space construction and maintenance platform (and, of course, it did keep the U.S. in the manned space game and allow us to put a lab up for a couple weeks every few months for the past 15 years).
By partnering with Russia we've effectively combined each others tool boxes. It isn't a question of Soyuz vs. shuttle, but rather what do you use each for and how do you augment and replace these platforms, along with Energia and others, down the road.
There's no doubt that Soyuz is the right platform for getting a few humans and their kit to and from fixed platforms like the MIR or ISS.
However, until now (with the ISS habitable), the shuttle was the far best tool for working on the ISS. Imagine having to suit-up in a Soyuz capsule, go spacewalking for a few hours running wiring and attaching antennas only to have to squeeze back into your Soyuz for a restful 8 hours strapped to an acceleration couch. Forget it. I'm sure the astronauts of all the countries who have been working on the station these last few launches very much enjoyed having some place to stretch their legs.
So:
Need to fix a low orbit satellite, send up the shuttle. (Or just de-orbit it and replace it if it's cheap.)
Need to put a big chunk of space station into orbit, stick it on top of an Energia.
Need to get three replacement crew to the ISS, send a Soyuz up.
Need to send up 250 kilos of emergency supplies, use a Soyuz cargo capsule.
Need to send up 5 replacement crew, fifteen laptops, a new APU, and 50 rats for some experiments, use the shuttle.
In other words, use the right tool for the job.
Of course, in the future, the trick is to not try and build another Swiss Army Knife. Replace Soyuz with a small, re-usable lifting body that can get 5 or 6 people into orbit with a little more cargo; build a minivan this time, not a Winnebago. And when we need larger pieces lifted into orbit, don't build a 'space 747', strap a few more boosters on a Russian rocket. And when the shuttle is getting too old, build a pickup truck not a Lincoln Navigator.
Slashdot Mirror
Story from news.com:
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-959831.html
As the article points out (along with several posters above), the warranties on drives in PCs and other devices (the vast majority of HD sales) were already that of the device in which they came, which is generally one year or less anyway.
Honestly, at today's prices I view hard drives as twinkies--they're cheap and they'll probably last 3 years anyway. There's plenty of worse things to get upset about than only getting a 1 year warranty with a $79 80GB 7200 RPM hard drive.
--Len
...for the Constitution class starship I've got parked in orbit. I guess I'll just have to slap on a coat of black paint and hang over the magnetic poles until I can steal a real cloaking device from the Romulans.
Because replicating all of those bugs would be a herculean task.
In the shuttle, we tried to build a Swiss Army Knife and that's basically what we got--a collection of tools in one platform that sort of work, but not as well as a real screwdriver or a real pliers. Fortunately, the shuttle has proven to be a quite good mobile space construction and maintenance platform (and, of course, it did keep the U.S. in the manned space game and allow us to put a lab up for a couple weeks every few months for the past 15 years).
By partnering with Russia we've effectively combined each others tool boxes. It isn't a question of Soyuz vs. shuttle, but rather what do you use each for and how do you augment and replace these platforms, along with Energia and others, down the road.
There's no doubt that Soyuz is the right platform for getting a few humans and their kit to and from fixed platforms like the MIR or ISS.
However, until now (with the ISS habitable), the shuttle was the far best tool for working on the ISS. Imagine having to suit-up in a Soyuz capsule, go spacewalking for a few hours running wiring and attaching antennas only to have to squeeze back into your Soyuz for a restful 8 hours strapped to an acceleration couch. Forget it. I'm sure the astronauts of all the countries who have been working on the station these last few launches very much enjoyed having some place to stretch their legs.
So:
Need to fix a low orbit satellite, send up the shuttle. (Or just de-orbit it and replace it if it's cheap.)
Need to put a big chunk of space station into orbit, stick it on top of an Energia.
Need to get three replacement crew to the ISS, send a Soyuz up.
Need to send up 250 kilos of emergency supplies, use a Soyuz cargo capsule.
Need to send up 5 replacement crew, fifteen laptops, a new APU, and 50 rats for some experiments, use the shuttle.
In other words, use the right tool for the job.
Of course, in the future, the trick is to not try and build another Swiss Army Knife. Replace Soyuz with a small, re-usable lifting body that can get 5 or 6 people into orbit with a little more cargo; build a minivan this time, not a Winnebago. And when we need larger pieces lifted into orbit, don't build a 'space 747', strap a few more boosters on a Russian rocket. And when the shuttle is getting too old, build a pickup truck not a Lincoln Navigator.
--Len Quam