Dr. Dobb's Journal October 1997
Many people see the Internet as a place to exchange and share free information, so it's no surprise that free software continues to be a major force. According to Netcraft, 42 percent of web sites are running some form of the free Apache web server. Runner-up Microsoft can only claim 17 percent. Similarly, the FreeBSD operating system is behind 2 of the Internet's biggest sites: Yahoo! and Walnut Creek CD-ROM's wcarchive.
-- Tim Kientzle
However, free operating-system designers are a bit nervous about the restrictions on the new I2O (Intelligent I/O) device interface (http://www.i2osig.org/) being pushed by Microsoft and Intel, among others. The draft standard is only available if you pay a hefty membership fee and promise not to release any I2O-related information, including driver source code. If it catches on, and the restrictions remain in place, systems such as FreeBSD and Linux will be hard-pressed to support it. Even if they can get information to write drivers, they'll be barred from distributing those drivers. Ironically, I2O claims that one of its goals is to reduce operating-system dependence.
Proprietary device interfaces have proven troublesome in the past, usually to the hardware vendor. Such proprietary interfaces restrict the development of competing drivers -- we've all seen plenty of cruddy drivers from hardware manufacturers -- and restrict the coverage that magazines such as DDJ can offer. Many hardware vendors have found that openly publishing their interfaces results in broader support for their hardware. One troubling aspect of I2O is that it's also being supported by operating-system companies such as Microsoft, SCO, and HP, who may be less likely to back a truly open standard.
-- Tim Kientzle
Stocking over a hundred different fabrics ranging from "Cotton Casual" in khaki to "Keepers Tweed" in olive (all illustrated online), British clothier Brook Martine (http://www.brookmartine.co.uk/) has launched an Internet trouser service. Prices start at around $100/pants, plus $17 for same day service. Take seven measurements from your favorite pair of slacks, enter them into a web form with your credit card number, and Brook Martine will do the rest. A refund is guaranteed if you're not happy.
-- Jonathan Erickson
Proving that it can indeed deal with the tough issues (soft money and campaign financing notwithstanding), the U.S. Senate has approved a measure requiring federal agencies to remove computer games from all government computers. The amendment to the Treasury and general government appropriations bill forbids the government from buying any new computers that have games already installed. According to one senator, "the removal of these games will save millions, if not billions, in lost productivity." Frankly, you could say the same thing about Congress itself, as evident by last year's government shutdown.
-- Jonathan Erickson
Used to be, sports fans would collect sports cards featuring their favorite players. Now, you can collect phone cards featuring your favorite web sites. Star Telecom Network (http://startele.com/) is issuing a series of collectible phone cards with images taken from top web sites.
-- Tim Kientzle
One of the real surprises when opening boxes of Microsoft software such as Visual C++ 5.0 is in what's not there. The boxes, which are 9.5×8×4 inches in size, contain a pair of CD-ROMs, a pamphlet or two, and a lot of air. While the packaging makes it possible to hog valuable shelf space, the electronic distribution of software and documentation has added significantly to Microsoft's bottom-line. In a press release announcing revenues of $11.36 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1997 -- a 31 percent increase over the $8.67 billion reported last year -- chief operating officer Bob Herbold noted that cost of goods sold dropped significantly, primarily due to the continuing shift to CD-ROM distribution. Microsoft now ships approximately 90 percent of its finished goods products on CD-ROMs. He noted, however, "that further material reductions in cost of goods sold are unlikely."
-- Jonathan Erickson
With the Mars Pathfinder web site logging 46 million hits in a single day, it would be an understatement to say that NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Pathfinder mission to Mars has generated some interest. The project has also generated kudos for JPL software developers Abhinandan Jain, Guillermo Rodriguez, and Guy Man, who received NASA's Software of the Year award for their Dynamic Algorithms for Real-Time Simulation (DARTS) software. DARTS was used to simulate Pathfinder operations and test flight software and hardware. (For more information on DARTS software, see http://hq.nasa.gov/office/ code/swy97win.html.)
At one point during the mission, the Pathfinder team saved the day by acting as a Martian Help Desk and transmitting new software to the Lander to fix a bug. According to Pathfinder flight software engineer Steve Stolper, "The bug itself was a classic case of priority inversion. A high-priority task with hard real-time deadlines was blocked by a low-priority task that was holding a shared resource. It was an insidious, nonrepeatable failure that only occurred when the low-priority task was preempted in a 10-15 instruction window. The fact that our data rates are approximately eight times faster than anticipated, and [the fact that] the amount of science now done on Mars is proportionally larger, exposed the bug. [It] was fixed by changing the software on the spacecraft. The configuration of the system was changed so that when the lower-priority task blocked the higher one, its priority was raised until it released the shared resource. This prevented intermediate-level tasks from being scheduled ahead of the one that possessed the shared resource."
Stolper will present a seminar entitled "Embedded Systems on Mars" at this month's Embedded System Conference (http://www.embedsyscon.com/). During his presentation, he will describe the Mars Pathfinder Spacecraft with particular attention to the Attitude and Information Management (AIM) Subsystem, an embedded-computing system that managed all high-level spacecraft functions. Stolper will also demonstrate a prototype of the robotic vehicle that landed on Mars.
-- Deirdre Blake