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

[Steve Cohen <stevecoh@mcs.com>]

Norm wrote:

> 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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  I tried to answer this question before and had Mitch come down hard on me,
but I still think it's relevant.  The managerial elite would rather not
think about technical issues and has probably resented for years the
technical employees it has had to hire who know more than they do and have
unjustifiable (in the minds of the managerial elite) powers over them.  They
would rather deal with One Big Geek who will give them a point and click
system that lets them do most of what they want then follow the advice of
the little geeks they've hired.  Going with Microsoft at this point is a way
to get revenge on the geeks you've hired - you can ignore their advice or
maybe even fire them.  Reliability is a secondary concern.