This thinking pretty much sums it up. Experimental/exploratory aviation is inherently risky. NASA has squatted on its haunches for half a century; no human had left low-earth orbit (LEO) since 1972. Idiots like these want to make it another 50 years. Good luck with that.

I teach CS 428 ("Software Engineering") at BYU. The three texts my students read are:

-- The Mythical Man-Month, Fred Brooks (originally published in 1975, anniversary edition in 1995)
-- Peopleware by DeMarco and Lister (first published in 1987, currently in its 3rd edition)
-- Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering by Robert Glass (published in 2002)

I also recommend to them (but don't require) The Psychology of Computer Programming by Gerry Weinberg (first published in 1971)

I tell my students if they read those first three books, they will be in the 1% (or less) of people in the IT industry who have. Yet they clearly lay out all of the foundational issues in IT, including bad hiring, bad management, bad environments, lack of understanding (by management) of how to build teams and nurture talent, and so on. They explain why we have such crappy software and why we lose $50B or so each year in failed IT projects.

My other work is as an expert witness in litigation involving IT. About 50% of my cases are failed/disputed IT projects. My job is made easy -- though I am often depressed -- by how common and well-documented the root causes are. You'd think we'd learn. You'd be wrong. ..bruce..

I was an early Echo adopter and have a Dot now as well. I primarily use it to (a) maintain my shopping/errands list, and (b) stream music while I do stuff in the kitchen. I've never bought anything using it.

But I can tell you if the day comes that Alexa gives me ads when I'm asking for something else, it's getting unplugged forever. ..bruce..

Best video on the subject ever: https://youtu.be/k4EUTMPuvHo

OK, only video on the subject, likely, but still the best ever. ..bruce..

The single biggest predictor of project success/failure is the quality of the people involved.

However, most firms are bad at recruiting and maintaining top-quality people. Often, they chase the best ones away, resulting in the Dead Sea Effect.

Finally, "In starting a new software program, all the important mistakes are made on the first day." (The Art of Systems Architecting, Maier & Rechtin). ..bruce..

I have an Amazon Echo and Dot ("Alexa"). Principal use is to maintain my grocery/errand list. I also use the Echo to stream music in the kitchen in the morning while I'm feeding the dogs. Won't be hard to fire at all.

Trust me, within the IT field, the Turing Award is considered every bit as prestigious as the Nobel Prize.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... ..bruce..

Alistair! Great to touch base; hope you're doing well. And, yeah. I had actually hoped to see Jerry a month ago when I was in LA, but the (business) trip was too short to set up a visit. Drop me a line sometime (you can find my e-mail at my website). ..bruce..

I got to know Jerry personally when I started writing for BYTE back in 1984. While I had read his BYTE column as well as much of his science fiction writings to date (both solo and with Larry Niven), what I didn't appreciate until some fact time with him was how much he knew about so many subjects. "Chaos Manor" (his name for the house that he and Roberta lived in in Studio CIty) was so named because of the shelves and stacks of books everywhere, on every conceivable subject. Jerry had a BA/MA in psychology and a PhD in political science; he was also an army vet, and did a lot of consulting for the US government, both in terms of the military and the space program. He also had what was pretty much a photographic memory. When I would argue with him on subjects, he'd bring up facts and figures from a vast array of sources.

He also didn't suffer fools gladly, which is why he ticked off so many people. :-) Also, he knew too much for them to prove him wrong, which these days is an unforgivable sin. ..bruce..

I'm actually a fan of Apple TV; we have one hooked up to our family room TV (55", a/v receiver, 3' speakers, subwoofer literally the size of a steamer trunk) as well as one hooked up to our bedroom TV upstairs. And yet as I sit here at the dinner table on my laptop (we have one of the family room/dining area/kitchen open rooms), I'm listening to streaming music from...our Amazon Echo. Why? Because when I came downstairs to feed the dogs, all I had to say was "Alexa, play my 'Mornings' playlist", and it did. No remote to fumble with, no checking to be sure I was in the right 'spot' in the Apple TV menu to play a playlist.

Apple blew it by not releasing a hands-free, voice-activated Apple TV a year ago. 4K doesn't wow me; I have no plans to run out and buy a 4K tv any time soon. What I want is better and more functionality, and in particular true voice activated functionality.

Anyone want to predict what actual Apple HomePod sales end up being?

Remember that for quite some time, the rumor was that Apple was going to release its own line of TV sets. Many people (including myself) thought that was a stupid idea, since it would put Apple into the TV manufacturing business, which is pretty cutthroat.

I think the same problems occur with the concept of Apple building its own self-driving car, except that car manufacturing is far more complex, capital-intensive, and labor-intensive than building TV sets, while still being just as cutthroat (note that US car mfgrs are dealing with slowing sales and mounting inventory). So, Apple's move is, generally speaking, a sane one.

On the other hand, Apple has largely blown its approach to the actual Apple TV to date (I own two and am a fan, but I love my Echo and Dot more), so who knows what it will achieve on the automotive front.

As noted, the problem with most organizations is that there is no technical advancement track. I actually proposed back in the late 90s at one organization that we establish a full technical track that went from entry-level coder all the way up to CTO (with a layer of 'senior technical officers' below the CTO level).

Other organizations -- such as Bell Labs in its heyday -- simply had everyone as 'Member of Technical Staff', with ad hoc organization around research and technical projects.

Sadly, though, most organizations do, in fact, force technical people to become managers to advance, regardless of whether they want to or are suited for it. It's one of the reasons IT remains so dysfunctional throughout most organizations.

I've got an iPhone 6+. I'm quite happy with it.

On the other hand, I may well get an iPad Pro (to replace my 1st gen iPad Air) when iOS 11 comes out. ..bruce..

Changed my major to CS in 1974; my first CS class (BYU), we started with a IBM 360 pseudo-machine code (on punched cards) and then moved on to actual 360 assembly (also on punched cards). Later in the semester, we had to buy a FORTRAN text (which I still have), teach ourselves FORTRAN, and pass a proficiency test. (My professor for that class was Dr Alan Ashton, who would end up being on of the co-authors of Word Perfect. Great teacher.)

At the same time, I started working part time for a computer-assisted translation research project on campus that was using PL/1; my first task was doing data entry of Spanish vocabulary, but I bought a text on PL/1 and started teaching myself.

I'd actually had some brief exposure to BASIC a few years earlier, but not enough to claim it was my first language.

I had pretty much abandoned Hulu over its mandatory ads -- and then they offered an ad-free version for a few dollars (per month) more. Jumped on that right quick. And of course, no ads in Netflix. Or Amazon video.

Bad, bad move. ..bruce..