33 DECEMBER 2024 WorldWide Drilling Resource® Why Do We Rely on Software for Everything? by Britt Storkson Owner, P2FlowLLC From various news reports, it appears Boeing’s space division launched a spacecraft that wasn’t able to dock with the space vehicle it was supposed to dock with. Why couldn’t it do that? Because, among other things, the software running the operation was defective. See: https://hotair.com/david-strom/2024/08/06/shock-revelation-starliner-cant-undock-fromspace-station-safely-n3792766 It begs the question: Why do we rely on software for everything? If this seems like hyperbole, just look at the new cars right now. Everything is computerized - from the door locks to the windshield wipers, to raising and lowering of the windows.Virtually everything is run through a computer. Of course, this provides a modicum of convenience, but at what cost? The addition of computer control to these devices that could be easily manipulated by a switch (windshield wipers), a lever (door locks), or hand crank (raising and lowering the windows) really doesn’t add anything in terms of real value. It only adds cost, with very little benefit. And that’s the entire objective. All of the computer “stuff” also reduces reliability and makes whatever the computer runs more likely to fail. And when it does fail, it’s far more expensive to troubleshoot and fix - again adding cost. Often, the car owner is forced to “junk” the car because it’s too expensive to fix when a mechanical solution could be implemented for a fraction of the cost. Call me simplistic, but I really don’t mind reaching across the car to unlock the passenger door, or crank the window up and down. Even if I have to get out of the car to do it, I’m in pretty good shape and physically active so that’s not a problem either. And if these simple devices fail, it costs $20 or $30 to replace - not hundreds of dollars. And even if you don’t have the skills to replace things like this, you can readily find a mechanic who will do the job for a small charge. Often, mechanics will refuse to work on computer cars simply because if the mechanic makes one little mistake and cuts or damages some wiring in the process of doing the repair, the entire car shuts down and costs thousands of dollars to “undo” the damage. Most mechanics won’t take that chance. At one time, I worked for a company that used a lot of pumps for water cooling purposes. These water pumps had complex networks that monitored the “vital signs” and fed all of the data into a huge computer system, which then sorted out all the information to present to the operator. Very overbuilt and costly. I suggested to the manager of the operation they should just have a stand-alone computer to monitor each pump and if the pump had a problem, then it could shut down the problem pump and, using a simple switch closure, signal the operator if there was a problem so it could be dealt with. If needed, the stand-alone unit could be replaced in less than a minute for almost zero downtime. So what was this managers’ response? “We can’t do that! It’s not how we do things around here.” Or something along those lines. This manager didn’t actually say that, but it was clearly implied. It doesn’t take much in the way of software to operate a water pump, but one has to know how to do it, and obviously the know-how wasn’t there. Some of our income comes from selling computer control systems. Why would we want to reduce our income stream by reducing the parts and complexity of computer control systems? Because with efficiency comes prosperity. By that, I mean if we can do the same thing as “the other guys” using far less in the way of materials and software to do the task, it’s a really good business model. As a lesson from history: some years ago, the Volkswagen automobile (Beetle) appeared on the American scene and enjoyed great success for quite some time. Not only was the Volkswagen initially inexpensive to buy and economical on gas, but - and I think this is the most important part - it was cheap and easy to fix. Owing to Volkswagen’s simple design, parts were plentiful and relatively low cost. Most of all, that’s what the car buying public wanted! I believe these same principles can be applied to computer controls with great results. Britt Britt Storkson may be contacted via e-mail to michele@worldwidedrillingresource.com Booth 520
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