Personally, and I'm sure others will make the same point, when Intel had the 'penitum math debacle', I would strongly doubt that NASA had any of the problem processors in their hands. The problem was discovered long before NASA would have accepted delivery of any of these processors, given that their testing period is, very likely, many months if not years. The comment about NASA losing satellites because of an Intel 'debacle' is probably urban or suburban myth. Any orbital calculations were likely done using much older mainframes, certainly not Pentium machines. Let's not lose sight of reality here. As recently as last year, NASA was trolling cctech for parts for their onboard computer systems which were very extinct long before the Pentium was born. In a discussion of Mac versus Intel/x86/msoft hyperbole has no place.
bm hum. Ok, someone is going to ask, so... The Pentium Math Debacle. From the public's POV, it was a "minor" floating point math problem in the Pentium chips. It showed up in only a few instances, mostly in spreadsheets. From the engineering POV, it was a nightmare. You'd be amazed at how many sims and complex family calculations were thrown off by it. Particularly hard hit was NASA. They were using Pentium based systems to do orbital calculations. They lost n satellites because of it. "n"... Exact number not public; it includes NASA, mil, and commercial satellites. Lawsuits and insurance claims against Intel are still being settled. Today, NASA uses a "tell me three times" method, where each computer involved is a totally different architecture. So, in theory, that type of failure can never happen again. FWIW, - Dan. -- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com -- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
