The death of computing science discipline

Neil McBride says computer science was populated by mathematicians and physicists but now virtual robots can be created by eight-year olds without needing programming, logic or discrete mathematics skills. Does that mean we have a dying discipline?

We all know there's a crisis in university computer science departments. Student numbers are dwindling - down 115 just last year.

At the same time the computing unit of funding has fallen. And the onset of fees has made students think twice about joining a profession where the plethora of new jobs in the 1990s has reduced to a trickle and it's only just looking as if employment prospects may be on the upturn.

Dropping numbers of A Level students, a view that IT is a job for geeks and social misfits and a perception that there’s nothing interesting in computer science doesn’t help. Even the value of the research base is being questioned.

And the problem's global. In the US, the number of students choosing computer science dropped by 39 per cent between 2000 and 2005. In Australia, cuts in IT academic staff are the order of the day.

In such dire circumstances, it's tempting to hanker after the glory days when computer science ruled, departments were full, and students flocked to a leading edge discipline where the ideas were fresh.

It's easy to be nostalgic about the days when the income from computer science subsidised other departments and computing was the Prince of the university not the Cinderella.

We long for the days when assembler programming ruled, when programming was exciting and leading edge, when distributed computers were being created and there were uncharted vistas of applications to be written, and single applications such as ledgers and transaction systems transformed businesses. But that is the past. Today the ship is holed below the waterline.

As the ship sinks, we computer scientists fiddle on the deck hoping to avoid the icy waters. We claim, as the President of the BCS has recently, that there is still a massive need for computing students in the UK today.

We look to games programming for our salvation, designing games programming courses and reducing a wide-ranging industrial discipline to a set of geeks programming computers to zap spacecraft and dismember aliens.

It's a sorry sight to see computing academics fighting for the last few lifeboats. But the heyday of massive liners, full of programmers, plying the commercial sea-lanes is over. There may be room for a few luxury liners, but most of us fly on budget airlines.

It's easy to think that the problem is that people (read potential students) just don't understand how exciting computing is and that this can be fixed by a bit of sharp marketing, slick videos and some school visits. But the students are not that gullible. The real nature of the problem lies at the roots of the discipline.

Something significant has changed. There is the smell of death in the air.

In the early days, computer science was populated by mathematicians and physicists excited at the prospect of vastly accelerated computation. New languages were developed. FORTRAN, Algol, COBOL, and PL/1 took root. The foundations of programming were laid.

There was excitement at making the computer do anything at all. Manipulating the code of information technology was the realm of experts: the complexities of hardware, the construction of compliers and the logic of programming were the basis of university degrees.

The power of hardware has increased, as IBM 370s in air-conditioned warehouses gave way to computers in the home and advanced robots become this year's Christmas toy.

However, the basics of programming have not changed. The elements of computing are the same as fifty years ago, however we dress then up as object-oriented computing or service-oriented architecture. What has changed is the need to know low-level programming or any programming at all. Who needs C when there's Ruby on Rails?

Now vastly complex applications for businesses, for science and for leisure can be developed using sophisticated high-level tools and components.

Virtual robots - Zooks - can be created by eight-year olds without needing programming, logic or discrete mathematics skills. Web designers build complex business sites, graphic designers build animations, accountants assemble business systems without needing to go object-oriented.

Computer science has lost its mystique. There is no longer a need for a vast army of computer scientists. The applications, games and databases that students once built laboriously in final year projects are bought at bookshops and newsagents.

If the gap between public knowledge and academic curriculum isn't large enough, the gap between academia and industry practice is a gaping hole. While academic departments concentrate on developing new computer systems in an ideal organisational environment, a lot of industry has moved away from in-house development to a focus on delivering a service.

As commercial software products have matured, it no longer makes sense for organisations to develop software from scratch.

Accounting packages, enterprise resource packages, customer relationship management systems are the order of the day: stable, well-proven and easily available. IT departments now focus on contracts, tenders, service level agreements, training, system usage and incident management.

Interrupts, loops, algorithms, formal methods are not on the agenda. IT is about deploying resources to meet the information needs of its customers.

Implementation, facility management, systems integration, service management, organisational change even environmental audit are the language of IT. These hardly feature on computer science courses.

The environment within which computing operates in the 21 century is dramatically different to that of the 60s, 70s, 80s and even early 90s. Computers are an accepted part of the furniture of life, ubiquitous and commoditised.

Like cars, a limited number of people are interested in their construction, more live by supporting and maintaining them; most of us accept them as a black box, whose workings are of no interest but which confer status, freedom and convenience.

Indeed, whereas building a new car needs mechanical know-how, building a new computer application can be done by the user who has no grounding in computer science.

Computing is also affected by globalisation. The loss of jobs in IT and the declining computer science enrolments is a global problem for developed countries. Since the software product can be transmitted almost instantaneously, why develop it in expensive facilities in the west?

Armies of highly trained computer scientists are available in India, Sri Lanka and China. The expertise is easily off-shored. In India, over 100,000 new IT graduates a year are ready to support an off-shored IT industry.

Companies like Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Siemens have well established software development operations in India. Why are we not co-operating more with the Indian IT industry?

So where does that leave computing departments in universities? Do we pull up the drawbridge of the castle of computational purity and adopt a siege mentality: a band of brothers fighting to the last man? Or do we recognise that the discipline is dying if not actually dead, and breathing shallowly.

The old man has run his race well. He has changed the nature of human existence. Do we let go gently, realising that the discipline has run its course? The actual problem is one of the perception of the proponents of our discipline, not the potential students.

The old generation needs to look to a new generation, to new approaches. The focus is moving away from system construction. The jobs are in the application of technology. There is a need to be closer to the application, closer to the user, to replace a reductionist, convergent discipline with a complex, divergent discipline.

The complexity of embedded systems, of modern computing applications requires a different way of thinking. A reductionist, programming mindset does not adapt well to uncertainty, emergent behaviour, the unexpected and the study of the whole.

Relationships are important. The new computing discipline will really be an inter-discipline, connecting with other spheres, working with diverse scientific and artistic departments to create new ideas. Its strength and value will be in its relationships.

There is a need for innovation, for creativity, for divergent thinking which pulls in ideas from many sources and connects them in different ways.

The new computing department will be the department of interdisciplinary studies, drawing ideas from biology, design, history, medicine and contributing a rich computing foundation to those disciplines. It will be looking outwards rather than inwards, concerned to address the vast landscapes of computing application.

So how many computer science departments will exist in 30 years time? Perhaps a few will support the elite luxury liners. Most will have given way to interdisciplinary study departments, and computing service departments, producing innovative graduates who can corral and manage the IT resources organisations need.

Computer science curricula are old, stale and increasing irrelevant. Curricula needs to be vocational, and divergent, widening the computing student's view of the world, not creating a sterile bubble, closed off from the wider issues in the world, and from the networking, the integration, the global reach of computers.

There is a need for a drastic rethinking of what the discipline is about. There is a need for new curricula which represents a real paradigm shift, not just a move from keyboards to pen computing.

Here at De Montfort I run an ICT degree, which does not assume that programming is an essential skill. The degree focuses on delivering IT services in organisations, on taking a holistic view of computing in organisations, and on holistic thinking.

Perhaps this represents an early move towards a new kind of computing discipline. As the roots rot and the tree falls a vast array of new saplings appear. Those saplings may be the start of a new inter-discipline: new computing for the 21st century.

Neil McBride is a principal lecturer in the School of Computing, De Montfort University.

Tribute to Major General Hamangoda - A noble death for a noble cause

A valiant officer's sudden loss is irreparable to his motherland and its natives, in the sense that the making of a fully-fledged soldier itself is not only a question of time, but also a process for embodiment of many other factors such as proper command, decision-making, valour, strategy, values, etc. to name a few.

The Army, in its lifespan of over 50 years while simultaneously transforming itself to be one of the most challenging and battle-hardened professional outfits, deviating from its former ceremonial role, hitherto perhaps remains the only organ that has so far produced the finest assortment of military leaders for the country, fondly remembered by right-thinking countrymen in all corners of our country. They certainly laid down their lives for others, and to make our tomorrow better.

Ten years seems such a long time, and yet the memories of our protagonist, Major General Ananda Sri Sisira Kumara Hamangoda USP Msc Psc, popularly called, 'Ananda' is vivid among many of his associates and fellow military men who used to admire him as a source of strength and inspiration.

Major General Hamangoda's sudden demise on July 4, 1996 following an LTTE suicide attack with several other soldiers in the heart of Jaffna was a great loss not only to his Sri Lanka Artillery Regiment, his wife and children, but also to his motherland, for whose territorial integrity he fought along with his troops. For all his companions, he was that so-called 'jolly good fellow' who was sober and exceptionally decent.

My close association with General Hamangoda, though he was senior to me, dates back to our good old days in school at Kurunegala Maliyadeva College in the early 1970s, where General Ananda excelled in many spheres as sportsman, student leader, house-captain, senior cadet, and more importantly, as the school's best orator, thus bringing fame to our Alma Mater.

Budding Ananda was exemplary, energetic, innovative, admired and often picked by our Principals and teachers alike as a role model for the school. He was the captain for the school's badminton team in 1971 and in the same year he won the Gold Medal for overall best performance in the school. We, as juniors in the college looked up to him with respect as a prefect, beacon of hope and a guiding light.

His exit from the college saw his enlistment to the Sri Lanka Army (Regular Force) as cadet officer in 1973 and to receive his commission later on as a Second Lieutenant in the 4th Regiment of Sri Lanka Artillery. From that stage onwards, the Second Lieutenant Hamangoda turned Lieutenant in 1976, Captain in 1979, Major in 1983, Lieutenant Colonel in 1990, Colonel in 1994 and finally Brigadier on 15th November 1995 before he suddenly departed us. His reach to the mantle of his career was only through his commitment to the cause and his brilliant approach to situations, no matter what it got to be.

The warrior, Ananda was posthumously promoted to the rank of Major General after his supreme sacrifice in 1996 in recognition of his achievements.

His illustrious, dedicated and exemplary career in the Army was not without productive results or cherished memories. For two years (1981-1983) he served as Adjutant for his own 4th Regiment of Sri Lanka Artillery before he was posted to the Staff Officer appointment in the 5th Regiment of Sri Lanka Artillery (Volunteer) for about two years.

With the rapid expansion of the Army, he on his own initiative raised a new Field Battery in the newly founded 6th Regiment of Sri Lanka Artillery and became its first Battery Commander.

Afterwards he was also appointed the first Second in Command in the newly raised 7th Light Artillery Regiment in November 1988, particularly taking stock of his excellent and extensive knowledge on Artillery, and his wide experience in the battlefield.

His dedication towards the Artillery Regiment, judged by all what he did, was commendable and has gone on record as a warrior who rendered a yeoman service to the Regiment with the help of his ocean of knowledge and experience.His distinguished tenure of service spanning about 23 years covered almost every corner of our beloved motherland, including war-torn operational areas in the north and east. He was an arch-enemy to separatists.

His expertise derived from various professional study courses, both at home and abroad, needless to mention, kept him in good stead and served him very well in his pursuit of professionalism in all of his undertakings.

Until his supreme sacrifice, Major General Hamangoda braved relentlessly to defend the territorial integrity of this island-nation with thousands of his fellow troops amidst enemy fire, on many occasions, even at the risk of his own life.

Needless to say, his warfare was professional and needed elaborate planning. His proven ability to execute operations after meticulous hard work and subsequent successful launch of them against the enemy came in for high praise of his superiors, and his enthusiastic valour was therefore well recognised with the conferment of medals such as Uttama Seva Padakkama (USP), Long Service Medal for Sri Lanka Armed Forces, Vadamarachchi Operations Medal, President's Accession Medal and Poornabhumi Padakkama, to cite a few.

His sporting prowess in cricket, volleyball as well as in boxing contributed immensely to the promotion of sports activities in the Army while helping the Army to produce a number of Army sportsmen of national and international standards. Thanks to his selfless commitment, all those projects are still on. Major General A. S. S. K. Hamangoda remains close to the hearts of his fellow schoolmates as a character par excellence that symbolised many, a talented and brave officer to all Army personnel, and not least, a wonderful husband and father to his bereaved family, Mrs. Indrani Hamangoda, son Dulshan and his daughters Buweni and Maheshani.

As Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery once quipped, "The good General is the one who wins his battles with the fewest possible casualties," late Major General Hamangoda, as one of the Army's best products during the most critical junctures of our recent history, fulfilled his sacred mission to the best of his ability and for the greater benefit of our society. His sense of humour, rich with vituperative jokes brought his associates closer to him whenever and wherever they met, no matter what the occasion was.

Such was his simplicity amidst a gathering of his friends and others because General Ananda wanted to be fair by all at all times, in spite of his formal ranks.

So, farewell, dear Sir until we meet again in this journey of Samsara. May you attain supreme bliss of Nibbana!

-Bgdr DR

FOSS-Ed on Wheels Kandy

Guys guys once again they have done a great job !!

Ras Vihidena - Bathiya & Santhush

Mal Pan Podak - Bathiya & Santhush

Kusumata Lanwee - Chandralekha

Introducing iPhone

iPhone combines three amazing products — a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod with touch controls, and a breakthrough Internet communications device with desktop-class email, web browsing, maps, and searching — into one small and lightweight handheld device. iPhone also introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting you control everything with just your fingers. So it ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, completely redefining what you can do on a mobile phone.

Richest man's Richest attitude

There was a one hour interview on CNBC with Warren Buffet, the second
richest man who has donated $31 billion (85% of his fortune) to charity.

Here are some very interesting aspects of his life:

1) He bought his first share at age 11 and he now regrets that he started too late!

2) He bought a small farm at age 14 with savings from delivering newspapers.

3) He still lives in the same small 3 bedroom house in mid-town Omaha, that he bought after he got married 50 years ago. He says that he has everything he needs in that house. His house does not have a wall or a fence.

4) He drives his own car everywhere and does not have a driver or security people around him.

5) He never travels by private jet, although he owns the world's largest private jet company.

6) His company, Berkshire Hathaway, owns 63 companies. He writes only one letter each year to the CEOs of these companies, giving them goals for the year. He never holds meetings or calls them on a regular basis.

7) He has given his CEO's only two rules.

Rule number 1: Do not lose any of your share holder's money.

Rule number 2: Do not forget rule number 1.

8) He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His past time after he gets home is to make himself some pop corn and watch television.

9) Bill Gates, the world's richest man met him for the first time only 5 years ago. Bill Gates did not think he had anything in common with Warren Buffet. So he had scheduled his meeting only for half hour. But when Gates met him, the meeting lasted for ten hours and Bill Gates became a devotee of Warren Buffet.

10) Warren Buffet does not carry a cell phone, nor has a computer on his desk.

11) His advice to young people: Stay away from credit cards and invest in yourself.

TOP GUN

If Operating Systems Ran The Airlines...

Different operating systems. Different styles. But what if the quirks and styles of the different operating systems were applied to AIRLINES? What if airlines ran things the way operating systems do? This humorous analogy, applying operating system philosophies as if they were airlines, is a long-standing much-circulated amusing story, and I'd credit the author if I knew who wrote it!

UNIX Airways

Everyone brings one piece of the plane along when they come to the airport. They all go out on the runway and put the plane together piece by piece, arguing non-stop about what kind of plane they are supposed to be building.

Air DOS

Everybody pushes the airplane until it glides, then they jump on and let the plane coast until it hits the ground again. Then they push again, jump on again, and so on...

Mac Airlines

All the stewards, captains, baggage handlers, and ticket agents look and act exactly the same. Every time you ask questions about details, you are gently but firmly told that you don't need to know, don't want to know, and everything will be done for you without your ever having to know, so just shut up.

Windows Air

The terminal is pretty and colourful, with friendly stewards, easy baggage check and boarding, and a smooth take-off. After about 10 minutes in the air, the plane explodes with no warning whatsoever.

Windows NT Air

Just like Windows Air, but costs more, uses much bigger planes, and takes out all the other aircraft within a 40-mile radius when it explodes.

Windows XP Air

You turn up at the airport,which is under contract to only allow XP Air planes. All the aircraft are identical, brightly coloured and three times as big as they need to be. The signs are huge and all point the same way. Whichever way you go, someone pops up dressed in a cloak and pointed hat insisting you follow him. Your luggage and clothes are taken off you and replaced with an XP Air suit and suitcase identical to everyone around you as this is included in the exorbitant ticket cost. The aircraft will not take off until you have signed a contract. The inflight entertainment promised turns out to be the same Mickey Mouse cartoon repeated over and over again. You have to phone your travel agent before you can have a meal or drink. You are searched regularly throughout the flight. If you go to the toilet twice or more you get charged for a new ticket. No matter what destination you booked you will always end up crash landing at Whistler in Canada.

Linux Air

Disgruntled employees of all the other OS airlines decide to start their own airline. They build the planes, ticket counters, and pave the runways themselves. They charge a small fee to cover the cost of printing the ticket, but you can also download and print the ticket yourself.

When you board the plane, you are given a seat, four bolts, a wrench and a copy of the seat-HOWTO.html. Once settled, the fully adjustable seat is very comfortable, the plane leaves and arrives on time without a single problem, the in-flight meal is wonderful. You try to tell customers of the other airlines about the great trip, but all they can say is, "You had to do what with the seat?"

More Interesting topics at http://www.zyra.org.uk/os-air.htm

Mobitel’s new marketing strategy

This is a true story of a young college girl who passed away last month. Her name was Janaki. She was hit by a lorry. She has a boy friend named Prabath. Both of them are true lovers.

They always hang on the phone. You can never see her without her hand phone. In fact she also changed her phone from Dialog to Mobitel, so both of them can be on the same network, and save on the cost. She spends half of the day talking with Prabath. Janaki's family knows about their relationship. Prabath is very close with Janaki's family. Before she passed away she always told her friends "If I pass away please burn me with my hand phone" she also said the same thing to her parents. \

After her death, people couldn't carry her coffin. A lot of them tried to do so but still couldn't everybody tried to carry the coffin, the result was still the same. Eventually, they called their neighbor, a religious man from a village, who is a friend of her father. He took a stick and started speaking to himself slowly. After a few minutes, he said "this girl misses something here".

Then her friends told the learned man about her wish to burn her with her phone. He then opened the coffin and places her phone and SIM card inside the casket. After that they tried to carry the coffin. It could be moved and they carried it into the van easily. All the people were shocked. (Can u feel the fear? I'm shaking at this moment) Janaki's parents did not inform Prabath that Janaki had passed away.

After 2 weeks Prabath called Janaki's mom. Prabath..."Aunty, I'm coming home today. Cook something nice for me. Don’t tell Janaki that I'm coming home today, I wanna surprise her." Her mother replied....."You come home first, I wanna tell you something very important." after he came, they told him the truth about Janaki.

Prabath thinks that they were playing a fool. He was laughing and said "don’t try to fool me - tell Janaki to come out, I have a gift for her Please stop this nonsense". Then they show him the original death certificate to him. They gave him proof to make him believe. (Prabath started to sweat)

He said... "It’s not true. We spoke yesterday. She still calls me. Prabath was shaking. Suddenly, Prabath's phone rang. "See this is from Janaki, see this..." he showed the phone to Janaki's family. All of them told him to answer. He talked using the loudspeaker mode. All of them heard his conversation.

Loud and clear, no cross lines, no humming. It is the actual voice of Janaki & there is no way others could use her SIM card since it is nailed inside the coffin they were so shocked and asked for the religious mans help again. He brought another religious man along to solve this matter.
They both worked for 5 hours. Then they discovered one thing...

...

...

...

...

...

MOBITEL has the best coverage :) LMAO

Simple solutions

This is a mail i got from my university mailing list. Thought of sharing it here as it's underlying moral is significant most of the BIG thinkers!!!

Case 1
When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens would not work at zero gravity (ink will not flow down to the writing surface).
To solve this problem, it took them one decade and $12 million. They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C. And what did the Russians do...? They used a Pencil!

Case 2
One of the most memorable case studies on Japanese management was the case of the empty soapbox, which happened in one of Japan 's biggest cosmetics companies. The company received a complaint that a consumer had bought a soapbox that was empty.
Immediately the authorities isolated the problem to the assembly line, which transported all the packaged boxes of soap to the delivery department. For some reason, one soapbox went through the assembly line empty. Management asked its engineers to solve the problem. Post-haste, the engineers worked hard to devise an X-ray machine with high-resolution monitors manned by two people to watch all the soapboxes that passed through the line to make sure they were not empty.
No doubt, they worked hard and they worked fast but they spent whoopee amount to do so.

But when a rank-and-file employee in a small company was posed with the same problem, he did not get into complications of X-rays, etc., but instead came out with another solution. He bought a strong industrial electric fan and pointed it at the assembly line. He switched the fan on, and as each soapbox passed the fan, it simply blew the empty boxes out of the line.

Moral
Always look for simple solutions. Let us devise the simplest possible solution that solves the problems.

Meet "The Artist" of the Google Logos

More than 150 million Web surfers around the globe celebrated Korean Independence Day Aug. 15, 2001. Well, at least for a few moments while they were visiting the popular Internet search engine Google. That day, the Korean national flag and several roses of Sharon, the Korean national flower, adorned the familiar "Google" logo on the homepage of the Web site.

Just another day's work for Dennis Hwang (Hwang Jung-moak ), a 23-year-old Korean computer artist in the United States , who has been drawing the face of Google for almost two years, creating a buzz of sorts with his simple yet witty designs.

With its seemingly magical ability to produce the most relevant search results, Google is already an established destination for the Internet savvy. Recently, Hwang's creative logos have been expressing the playful heart of Google behind the impressive technology.

For Piet Mondrian's birthday, Hwang transformed the "Google" logo to emulate the artist's signature style of utilizing colorful blocks. Claude Monet's birthday saw the logo turned into a dreamy watercolor, complete with floating lily pads.

Hwang recently spoke with The Korea Herald to give his take on the artistic side of the popular Internet search engine.

The Korea Herald: How long did you live in Korea as a child? What was it like?

Dennis Hwang: I was born in Knoxville, Tenn., but moved to Korea when I was about five years old. My hometown was Gwacheon where I had a very normal childhood. I went through public schools like everyone else, spending six years at Gwacheon Elementary School and two years at Munwon Middle School. Actually, much of my ideas and style stem from the time I spent during my childhood in Korea. Whatever challenges the logos bring, I can often rely on the little doodles that I used to do in school when I was young. Something that used to be frowned upon turned out to be my greatest asset.

Herald: When did you move back to the United States?

Hwang: I came back in 1992 when my father received a Fulbright Scholarship to research in the United States.

Herald: What was it like going to an American school all of a sudden?

Hwang: I was placed in a public middle school but was completely unprepared for it. I didn't speak a word of English. For the first six months, I couldn't communicate with the teachers or students. With the help of ESL programs though, I got better. My father returned to Korea, but my brother and I decided to continue our education in the States. My parents have made unimaginable sacrifices for us over the last 10 years, and I wouldn't be this successful without their support.

Herald: What was the first logo you designed for Google?

Hwang: Google had been using outside contractors to do the earlier logos, so the first project I got was modifying the Fourth of July logo in 2000. The two founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, wanted something more fun, so I redrew parts of the image. The next logo was for Bastille Day, which is the first logo I did from scratch.

Herald: Which letters are your favorite targets for manipulation?

Hwang: Understandably, the "O" and the "L" are the easiest to deal with. The "O" has become a Halloween pumpkin, a Nobel Prize medal, the Korean flag symbol and the planet earth. The "L" has been used as a flagpole, the Olympic flame cauldron or a snow ski. The first "G" is the most difficult to deal with, and I don't think the "E" has gotten much action because of its location.

Herald: How did you come to do the Korean Independence Day logo?

Hwang: Google makes a big effort to recognize holidays that aren't necessarily mainstream. The Korean Independence Day logo was seen globally by tens of millions of people. Numerous Korean-Americans wrote to thank us on Aug. 15 last year. Many expressed how proud it made them to see the Korean flag.

Herald: Do you have plans for other Korea-related logos in the future?

Hwang: I'll definitely to a special logo for Korea hosting the World Cup.

Herald: You're only 23 years old. What are your future plans?

Hwang: Who knows? It's very important to me that I can work both technically and artistically. Google is a perfect place to do that. It allows me to have a programming job while letting me express myself artistically, with the added bonus of having my work be seen by tens of millions of people in a single day.

Herald: What is your favorite letter among the ones found in the word "Google?"

Hwang: I've stared at the logo for so long and so often. I love them all equally.

Windows VISTA - Microsoft's Biggest MISTAKE

"David Short, an IBM consultant who works in the Global Services Division and has been beta testing Vista for two years, says users should consider 4GB of RAM if they really want optimum Vista performance. With Vista's minimum requirement of 512MB of RAM, Vista will deliver performance that's 'sub-XP,' he says. (Dell and others recommend 2GB.) One reason: SuperFetch, which fetches applications and data, and feeds them into RAM to make them accessible more quickly. More RAM means more caching."

CrAzy/BeAuTifuL

"crazy/beautiful" is the first teen romance I've seen, since, the last Kirsten Dunst movie. I used to go to a lot of teen flicks, but they were getting so bad even I couldn't stoop to ogle that much.

The writers clearly saw "Mad Love" and said "We can do better than that." And they do. They follow a very similar story line and add a non-stereotypical Latino twist for a different take on Romeo and Crazy Juliet.

While the ending isn't entirely believable, it is satisfying for a movie. With many thanks to Deepali...

Its been 7 years...

Its been 7 years i am not a pilot neither an Aero Engineer.
And i am still dreaming to become one.

64 DVDs on a disc: holographic storage to ship

February 12, 2007 (Computerworld) -- InPhase Technologies Inc. announced today that it will start bulk shipments of the industry's first holographic disc drive this July in a format able to store 300GB of uncompressed data on a single platter. That capacity will expand to 1.6TB per disc within three years, the company said.

The initial Tapestry HDS-300R holographic disc drives shipped in December to beta users

The Tapestry HDS-300R, which is the first rev of the product, will use a write-once format suited to regulatory agencies and is aimed strictly at the archival market for industries such as IT, health sciences, government agencies and professional video recording. InPhase plans to come to market with a re-writable format disc by the end of 2008.

"We're not going to play in the backup market at all," said Nelson Diaz, CEO of InPhase, in Longmont, Colo.

InPhase's first generation product has a data transfer rate of 20MB/sec., 100,000-hour meantime between failure rate and a 50-year expected lifespan. By the end of 2008, InPhase plans a second-generation 800GB optical disc with data transfer rates of about 80MB/sec., with plans to expand its capacity to 1.6TB by 2010. Diaz said his company plans to make all of its products backward compatible.

Diaz also said InPhase announced today that it has signed a partnership with jukebox manufacturer DSM Handhabungssysteme GmbH & Co. KG in Germany, to adapt its holographic drives to a library system. Diaz said DMS plans to have a holographic library out in early 2008 with up to 675TB of capacity. InPhase is also working with a number of other tape library manufacturers to adapt their technology.

Each holographic disk actually holds up to 600GB. Diaz said the remaining 300GB not being used for data storage is taken up by error correction software. "We have lots and lots of data redundancy. Because we're going after the archive market we've really erred on the side of caution in terms of data recovery," said Liz Murphy, vice president of marketing at InPhase.

To a backup server the holographic disc looks like a drive letter, allowing users to drag and drop files, Murphy said.

"We've also tried to make as easy to integrate as possible from a software perspective. So it can emulate a DVD, CD-R, magnetic optical disc or tape drive. So software companies don't have to do any major changes to write to it in native mode," Murphy said.

The optical platters are encased in a 5.25-in. square casing that looks like a floppy disk, except that they're 3 millimeters thick. The platter itself is 1.5 millimeters thick and data is written as a holographic image throughout the substrate of the disc.

Unlike CDs and DVDs where data is written on the surface, data is written throughout the substrate of the disc, meaning scratches, dust or dirt have little effect on data retrieval, Diaz said.

At $18,000 for a holographic disk drive, InPhase has priced its product roughly mid-point between a $30,000 enterprise-class tape drive and midrange tape drives such as LTO tape drives, which go for around $4,000. The holographic platters will retail for $180 each.

InPhase was spun off the technology from Bell Laboratories in 2000. The company plans to sell the product through resellers. Hitachi Maxell Ltd. will be manufacturing the tapestry line of holographic discs with photopolymer materials from Bayer MaterialScience AG.

Diaz said he already has orders for the product from big-name organizations such as Turner Broadcasting System Inc., the U.S. Geological Survey and Lockheed Martin Corp.

Financial Post (TORONTO) 23rd Friday Feb 2001

The Mars Mission Continues

In this Q&A with James Gosling,Father of Java find out more about the role of Java in the Mission to Mars

Q:What exactly is Java's role in the Mars Rover mission?

A: The places where NASA scientists have used Java for this mission is all on the ground side right now. They have created this collaborative command and control system called Maestro, which does this combination of data visualization, collaboration, command and control. It lets them look at images and create 3-D reconstructions of terrain. It allows various experimenters to look at the scenes and topography, browse the image databases and take part in all the participation they need to do. And to do it in a remote, distributed and collaborative kind of way - so they could actually have scientists at institutions all over the world who are not only looking at the data, but also collaboratively deciding on the way the mission should proceed. One of the nice things that the JPL guys have done is that they've made a "cleaned up for civilians" version of this application available that's called Maestro.

Q:How is the Java assisting in controlling the Rover from earth?

A: There's a Java API called Java Advanced Imaging, that's used for the images captured by the panoramic camera - the one that producing images with excruciating detail. Those panoramas are being created by combining images from two different cameras onboard the Rover, so with the two lenses they get two images - just like you've got two eyes - so you can do a stereoscopic mapping where your brain is able to figure out how far away things are. Because they've got these stereoscopic images, they can go through a process that's called stereo-image correlation, so they can calculate for each pixel in the image how far away that picture element really is.

With this information, the JPL scientists can calculate how far away each rock is, each picture element, for all of the millions of pixels in one of these large images. So you can get the depth of the image at every point. That's what a stereo camera gives you. When you've got the depth information, you can then actually build a 3-D model, the actual model of the terrain. And then you can actually map the image back onto the 3-D model. So then what you've got is a colored, three-dimensional model of the world around you.

Q:Are they actually commanding the Mars Rover with Java?

A: For the command and control system, big parts of it are this rather large Java application. There are a lot of parts involved in this. The Rover itself has a computer onboard. There's no Java in that computer now. But on the ground-side, there are a number of parts of the whole command and control chain that goes out to the Rover that's done in Java. It's not like every last piece of every subsystem is based on the Java code. Great big pieces of it are. In particular, all the data visualization, user interface front-end stuff and I believe a whole lot of the database stuff is.

Q:How does the public version of the Maestro application work?

A: If you go to the Maestro website you will find that they've got two sets of downloads. One is the Maestro application itself, and the other is a first teaser set of data from Mars. There are different versions for different platforms. There's one for Solaris, a version for Linux, there's a version for Windows and more. The fact that they've got all those versions just shows you how portable Java is, how cross-platform it is. It's exactly the same program in all of those, they are just packaged differently.

So when you download the first set of data. There's a script that walks you through looking at some of the data. Using the 3-D model they have there, and using your mouse, you can actually manipulate the 3-D model and you can get a view as if you're standing off to the side of the landing looking back at it. You can actually wander around the landing site. You can see the rocks. You can see one of the places where one of the air bags didn't deflate completely. All of this 3-D, walk-through visualization is using standard Java APIs like Java 3-D API, Java Advanced Imaging API, Java networking APIs and the user interface APIs.

Using the Maestro version they are distributing, not only do you see a 3-D model of the terrain, you see a 3-D model of the Rover. You can actually drive the Rover on this simulated terrain. It has this "video game" aspect to it. Except that you're actually driving it on a terrain model that's real. It's real Mars data that's constructing this terrain. It's not like playing Dune, where you're going through this maze that's completely fictitious.

Q:How has it been to work with the JPL scientists on this project?

A: I've spent a good amount of time down there with JPL, not only interacting with some of them, but I'm also on one of their advisory boards. In terms of talent density, IQ points per square meter, it's just an amazing place. Plus, they are doing things that most people would think of as science fiction. Most people read science fiction stories about driving dune buggies on Mars. These guys actually build them. They actually know how to fly between the planets. I've spoken to some of the guys that do interplanetary navigation, and that is really spooky stuff. You actually have to pay attention to relativity, the fact that time is not a constant - the faster you go, the slower things are. They function in a world where relativity actually matters. They are way outside of Newtonian mechanics.

JPL is a place to go to have your mind blown - partly, because they are really charged up about what they do. This is a crowd of people who are living a dream. What they are doing is so out there, so wonderful. They are doing something that is very heroic, noble, exploratory and exciting. They are the only part of the U.S. government that I can really get excited about. NASA has this incredible public outreach program, because they know that they are loved and it's a tremendous public service. They do lots of stuff with schools. The fact that they put this stripped-down version of Maestro out there is a wonderful piece of public outreach.

Q:What is it about Java that makes it so attractive to this type of application?

A: The answer is there's a bunch of things, not just one thing. One of the aspects of Java that was really important to them is that it runs on a lot of platforms. If you look at JPL, they've got Solaris boxes, Linux boxes, Windows boxes, Apple boxes - it works on all of them. If you look at the standard available API libraries available for Sun, there's a huge toolkit of things that you bring to bear. There are things like the 3-D modeling APIs, the Advanced Imaging APIs, and all the user interface APIs and networking APIs. The JPL guys used all of them. They were able to leverage all of these standard tools.

Plus, there's been a lot of experience with Java where folks have measured things like developer productivity. For example, if you compare how long it takes someone to develop a piece of software in Java versus C or C++, essentially all of the measurements show it to be about twice as effective. So if it takes some team of engineers ten months to do something in C++, it will take them five months to do it in Java. For an outfit like JPL that does everything on a shoestring budget, that also means you can trim it down five months - or still do it in ten months, but trim it down to half as many people.

There are also a number of aspects to Java that are all about building more reliable applications. It is a lot easier to build things that are more reliable - that break less often - so you don't have to worry about blowing your machine to bits. There's also a lot in Java that's all about security. So when you've got something like their large databases - whose integrity is something they need to be careful about - security is important. So, it's a whole bunch of things that all swirl together. Whenever you talk to Java developers, you get a different answer to the "why did you do it Java" question. Although, there tends to be a standard set of themes.

Q:Is this the first time that Java has been used for this type of application - being beamed out into space?

A: Actually, I don't think so. I've talked to people that have been doing various things with satellite ground station control and people that control systems for giant telescopes. People are doing stuff like this all over the place. The JPL project is what people tend to talk about because it's too damn cool for words.

Java Technology and the Mission to Mars

By Dr. James Gosling
CTO, Developer Programs
Sun Microsystems

Monday Jan 5, 4:00 PM PT

This weekend I saw what has to be the coolest Java(TM) app ever. We talk about "Java everywhere," which usually means Java(TM) technology in vehicle navigation, imaging, control consoles and things like that. This time "everywhere" means all of that and then some, because Java technology is playing a big role in NASA's latest, highly successful, Rover Mission to Mars.

On Saturday night I watched as a control room full of immensely tense geeks explode with joy as they successfully landed the six-wheeled Mars Rover "Spirit" on the planet's surface. From there, scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratories in Pasadena will get to use their powerful, Java technology-based, ground side control system to maneuver Spirit on the Martian terrain in what has to be the most amazing network "video game" in history.

Java 3D and Java Advanced Imaging technology are also key to the software JPL is using to render and interpret realtime images captured by the Rover. NASA has even made a stripped down version of the software that you can download so you can view a simulated 3D landscape and drive the Rover around in it.

There are all kinds of reasons JPL is using Java technology for control and imaging systems for the Rovers. NASA engineers had access to hundreds of specialized APIs and network protocols that they needed to bring this off. They got great productivity and reliability. The data they're collecting through this program is part of a distributed, collaborative network of scientists and engineers, and the ability of Java technology to run on any platform enables a secure, reliable global dialogue within NASA's scientific community.

Now that Java has helped us get to Mars, who knows what "Java Everywhere" will mean in the future?

Sean O'Keefe, administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, celebrates after the staff in the Mars Mission Control Room receives a signal that the Mars Rover has landed safely on Mars.


Mars mission controllers, Stan Thompson, foreground, and Bill Currie, prepare for the long evening ahead in the Mars Mission Control Room.

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