Re: Is the Writing on the Wall for Ada?

["Robert I. Eachus" <rieachus@attbi.com>]

Marin David Condic wrote:
 > And you have to optimize "profit" - not  "technical superiority". 
That's something
 > that most engineers have a hard time grasping.

No!  And that is an even harder lesson.  What you want to do is to 
maximize the long-term survival of the company.  That is the hard lesson 
for non-engineering types to learn.

An airplane can fly higher if the wheels fall off at take-off.  But an 
engineer knows he has to design for the entire flight.  This doesn't say 
you can't design for the wheels to fall off, just you have to figure out 
the landing strategy when you do.  (WW2 assault gliders, the U-2, and 
some UAVs have all used variations on this approach.)

In corporate terms, you need to do R&D so you have products to sell when 
the demand for current products dries up.  And a company can stay in 
business for twenty years or more with a 'book' loss as long as the cash 
flow is positive.  (For example, if you depreciate the factory but 
maintain it, at the end of the ammortization period you will still own 
the factory, and it will still be useful, even if depreciated to zero on 
the books.  The land you don't depreciate, but at the end of the 
amortization period, the land plus building may be worth much more than 
the book value.  Some REITs (real-estate investment trusts) are 
structured this way.  They allow you to take a loss every year you own 
them, then sell and take the capital gain. ;-)

-- 
                                                  Robert I. Eachus

"As far as I'm concerned, war always means failure." -- Jacques Chirac, 
President of France
"As far as France is concerned, you're right." -- Rush Limbaugh