I’d much rather prefer a computer driven car then a 20 something who’s texting.
Yah but…
curmudgeons immagining the worst case scenario…
IS
A valuable part of the total R & D .
@Texases writes …
Where'd you hear that [the airlines refused to strengthen the cockpit doors]? The doors have been strengthened, no question.
Sorry, I wasn’t clear. The doors have indeed been beefed up since 9.11. It was before 9.11 to which I was referring, when the airlines lobbied against a proposed gov’t regulation to strengthen the cockpit door.
I’d rather prefer a computer driven car then a 20 something who is texting
Just as bad yet, sharing the road with one. We don’t even have to be sitting in the same car to realize the advantages of a computer driven car over texting and under the influence drivers. Driver ability is on a continuum and though many car drivers can offer significant advantages over a computer when driving, many more cannot and even the best of drivers of other cars can still benefit.
“I’ve worked a lot with Microsoft development teams…and they have some of the BEST standards in the business. Their approach to software development is excellent. Maybe some groups don’t follow their own standards…but Microsoft standards are EXCELLENT”
Well Mike, here is where we part company. Perhaps in your industry, their methods are acceptable. I doubt that in any industry/application they are considered EXCELLENT. It would be stretch for anyone to believe that with the number of issues and patches being deployed on such a frequent basis that their fundamental methods are adequate let alone excellent. There is a good reason no one would ever consider using any MS OS for any mission or safety critical application. I have also had the (dis)pleasure of working fairly closely with their development teams in an effort to qualify software for use in even a non-critical support role. It failed even that validation effort based on the standards required by department of defense contractors.
That is the industry I work in and the standards required for such applications are likely far more rigorous than anything you have experienced working with MS. By the way, just so we don’t get off on a tangent, we’re talking about safety critical application here in the context of this thread regarding the autonomous control of a vehicle. So software quality is paramount. If you would consider allowing ANY portion of their software to be used in autonomous control of the vehicle you’re riding in, you are either very brave or…
@TwinTurbo, several months ago, I wanted a smart phone but I didn’t want to spend a lot of money or sign a contract, so I paid $100 for a Windows phone, a Nokia Lumia 520. Occasionally it ran slow, and I wasn’t happy to be forced into using Internet Explorer, but other than that, it was pretty flawless.
Then, about a month ago, my employer bought me a $200 iPhone 5s for $200. This thing has more bugs than I can list. Steve Jobs may have thought styluses should be unnecessary, but the virtual buttons on the screen are smaller and harder to use, and the phone’s OS is missing many intuitive features you can find on other smart phones (like a “.com” button that appears on the keyboard when you type a web address). I never needed a stylus for my Windows phone, but strangely, I can’t get things to work right on my iPhone without a stylus, and both phones have the same size screen.
14 years ago, when you could count on Microsoft’s software to crash and give you the blue screen of death several times a day, Apple had a clear advantage in programming prowess. It’s operating systems were intuitive and, well designed, and well programmed. However, the tables have turned. Apple’s operating systems are no loonger intuitive or easy to use, and even when Microsoft tries to aggravate its customers by moving their cheese and giving them a tablet-type of interface for their PCs, Windows still gives you access to the same old control panel and Windows desktop if you know how to set it up in Windows 8.1.
Apple’s operating systems have issues too. They just don’t offer patches as frequently, and when they do offer updates, what they’re often doing is catching up with Android and Microsoft, but announcing it as if they’re offering you something new and wonderful. http://money.cnn.com/2014/06/03/technology/mobile/apple-wwdc-android-windows/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
There is a good reason no one would ever consider using any MS OS for any mission or safety critical application.
Our company does. Along with Linux. And they are extremely mission critical apps.
That is the industry I work in and the standards required for such applications are likely far more rigorous than anything you have experienced working with MS.
I’ve worked in the Defense industry for several years. Then spend 10 years at Digital Equipment, and then several years as a software consultant in the Insurance industry. Now in the telecom industry where many of our products are sold to overseas and in the US. We have to comply with the FCC and their new security standards…and foreign companies that we deal with like Israel. Our standards are in line with the DOD standards I’ve worked with.
I’m not saying that Microsoft hasn’t had problems. Our development team at times has had to work closely with Microsoft developers. I know their standards. I’ve been doing this a long time - probably before you were born.
Obviously I can’t say that every organization in Microsoft follows their own standards. In fact I know they don’t. But to make the general statement that Microsoft doesn’t have good programming standards…you just haven’t looked.
Many companies - including Boeing and Lockheed Martin follow the Microsoft coding standards. I have two senior developers working for me right now…one came form Boeing and the other from Lockheed. One reason I hired them is because they were familiar with the standards we use - which is outlined in the MSDN.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/david_gristwood/archive/2004/06/24/164849.aspx
The other part of the equation where Microsoft is well ahead of most other companies…is in Software Development tools. When I took over the Software development for the company I’m at now…we were programming in C# and Java. All new development was done in C#. The development tools in C# were years ahead of Java (and still are). We save a lot of money each because you can get a product up and running in C# far faster with fewer problems then in Java. A couple of the Java developers were reluctant…but after a year in C#…they don’t want to go back to Java. In fact I have to almost beg them to fix a bug in any of our remaining Java apps. They find it so cumbersome compared to C# and the Microsoft IDE.
“probably before you were born.”
unlikely. I have been writing software since at least 10 years before the concept of a PC. We had to write our own OS, if you could even call it that, in assembler for 4 and 8 bit micros when I started. Don’t assume too much about who’s on the other end…
telecom? I’m talking about missile launch systems, guidance and intercept, satellite subsystems, space station hardware, defense battlefield awareness, trident launchers etc. Things that cannot fail or people die that aren’t supposed to or cannot be serviced and so on. I think you will find that there are layers of standards in the defense industry and they are only as restrictive as the technology or application dictates. A nuclear missile detonator has a bit more concern than a telecom switch. j/k don’t take too literally!
BTW- I don’t know anyone who likes Java and avoid it like the plague.
I'm talking about missile launch systems, guidance and intercept, satellite subsystems, space station hardware, defense battlefield awareness, trident launchers etc.
I have worked on Missile guidance systems at Raytheon. There was no operating system (at least what you’d call an operating system). It was dedicated software to a specific piece of hardware. You couldn’t log into it. You had to do all the programming on another computer (we were using PDP 11s) and then use a Cross Compiler and build an image that is loaded onto the system.
I think you will find that there are layers of standards in the defense industry and they are only as restrictive as the technology or application dictates.
When I was working in the defense industry…we were working with B5 and C5 specs. The US government has consolidated many of the defense industry programming standards and the FCC
programming standards.
So what programming standards does your company use. Waterfall, Agile, ScrumFall?
What are the Microsoft programming standards that you don’t like? Because they are accepted by many companies as the gold standard. This includes the top DOD companies. AND the DOD itself.
http://www.microsoft.com/government/en-us/dod/pages/default.aspx
Seems that the DOD likes Microsoft standards also.
http://gcn.com/articles/2013/01/08/windows-8-gains-foothold-in-government-with-dod-deal.aspx
Quote from the above article.
The military is a long-time big user of Microsoft products and services. DOD is always among the first to test new versions of Windows and Office and has been subject to numerous Microsoft case studies, and Microsoft has a team of employees dedicated to its DOD customer base.
Microsoft/DOD and mission critical software.
US Navy Command and control uses Microsoft.