Fwd: Linux reference on subs

[Benjamin Scott]

On Thu, Jun 9, 2011 at 9:23 AM,  <mnolin at embedded-unlimited.com> wrote:
> "US vessel, the Yorktown"  .."The entire network of Windows NT machines
> crashed. The Navy claims the ship was dead in the water for about three
> hours;"

  There's not much real information on this, but supposedly the
problem was in userland code: A divide by zero error crashed the
database that supported the ship systems.  Doesn't sound like an OS
issue.

  Franky, I wouldn't want to trust my life to anything running on any
general-purpose OS or software, be it Linux, Unix, Microsoft, Plan 9,
whatever.  I'd like something with known, documented, well-understood,
finite, deterministic states and transitions, please.  Preferably
implemented in discrete controls with manual alternatives.

  I think it was the estimable Bill Sconce who had a shirt that summed
it up nicely: "As a programmer, I find your faith in computers
amusing."

-- Ben