Re: Software glitches leave Navy Smart Ship dead in the water

["Norm" <normanmo@clark.net>]

On Tue, 21 Jul 1998 21:15:07 -0400 (EDT), Mitch Stone wrote:

>Bringing new meaning to the "blue screen of death."
>=========
>http://www.gcn.com/gcn/1998/July13/cov2.htm
>
>GOVERNMENT NEWS  
>
>GCN July 13, 1998  
>
>Software glitches leave Navy Smart Ship dead in the water 
>
>By Gregory Slabodkin GCN Staff 
>
>The Navys Smart Ship technology may not be as smart as the service 
>contends. 
>
>Although PCs have reduced workloads for sailors aboard the Aegis missile 
>cruiser USS Yorktown, software glitches resulted in system failures and 
>crippled ship operations, according to Navy officials. 
>
>Navy brass have called the Yorktown Smart Ship pilot a success in 
>reducing manpower, maintenance and costs. The Navy began running 
>shipboard applications under Microsoft Windows NT so that fewer sailors 
>would be needed to control key ship functions. 

 [Snip]


     I read that article the other day, and needless to say I find the
implications rather sobering.  What I'm most curious about though (and
what's usually never mentioned) is who's pushing this.  When the vast
majority of the people working with this stuff *know* it's inferior
technology who is making the decisions to push it, and even more
importantly *WHY* are they pushing it???  Is it just a case of clueless
administrators or is something else at work here??

--
 ...Cheers,

 ...Norm

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