7 ms·
Infrastructure is an enabling function. To claim it’s worthless is largely missing the point. It reminds me of the mechanical engineers I once worked with in ro
by bumby 4y ago
Infrastructure is an enabling function. To claim it’s worthless is largely missing the point. It reminds me of the mechanical engineers I once worked with in rocket engine testing. Many claimed software was largely worthless because it was only replacing existing analog alternatives.
To the articles point, the problem is about helping people connect the dots between the infrastructure and the work they really care about.
- asciii 4y ago> Many claimed software was largely worthless because it was only replacing existing analog alternatives. Reminds me of the famous and unfortunate quotes [1] [1]https://www.ittc.ku.edu/~evans/stuff/famous.html https://www.ittc.ku.edu/~evans/stuff/famous.html
- tialaramex 4y agoThe Bill Gates quote at the end is unsourced. In the unlikely event Gates ever actually said or wrote that, somebody would have a citation.
- OJFord 4y agoHe denies it himself, but a plausible explanation given here is that he perhaps meant '~ in the lifetime of this system': https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/2863/did-bill-gates-say-640k-ought-to-be-enough-for-everyone https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/2863/did-bill-g... (It goes back to 1985 apparently, so does seem unlikely it came from nowhere, since it wouldn't have seemed so ridiculous then.)
- rxhernandez 4y agoIt would be interesting to see how many of these criticisms are criticisms of these things as they stood and not for their potential; it seems ridiculous to place the onus on the critics to see if someone can execute well in the future.
- shanebellone 4y ago"Many claimed software was largely worthless because it was only replacing existing analog alternatives." The most glaring flaw in that argument, especially with that specific context, is that those rockets would not exist without software.
- bumby 4y agoTbf, they the engineers I’m referencing right design The rockets but rather the test stands. They were used to things like manually actuated valves, analog data collection etc. In their world, they could have came up in industry with little to no software. Even after adoption, they thought software testing was a waste of time because “it’s just software, it doesn’t break.” Obviously, they were thinking as a mechanical engineer where “breaking” is synonymous with “wearing out” or “physically breaking”.