Re: Would You Fly an Airplane with a Linux-Based Control System?

["Alexander E. Kopilovich" <aek@VB1162.spb.edu>]

David Botton wrote:

>For a real understanding of the Ariane 5 event, see the Ada FAQ:
>
>http://www.adapower.com/index.php?Command=Class&ClassID=FAQ&CID=328

I followed this link and read the article. Well, it's OK for that FAQ - it
explains what has happened and it is well-written.

But unlike other items of the FAQ, there is no obvious further reading for
this item for those who want more deep/detailed explanations.

At the same time, some readers of the FAQ may be interested in those details;
moreover, some readers probably will not believe the article without those
details.

For example, the article states that there was no testing - this is true,
but this may be unbelievable for some readers without detailed explanations
of how that happened. (Such a simple formula for the reason for avoiding
testing - "to save money" - may not satisfy them.)

So I propose to add (after the end of the article) a link "more details"
to the discussion on that topic in comp.lang.ada that occured in summer
(July-August) 2003. If it seems more appropriate to link to a single 
"summary" text instead of the whole discussion then the text from the message
in comp.lang.ada with subject:

  Ariane5 FAQ, Observer's version, 7th draft (hopefully final) 

may be used for that (it may be placed somewhere on website for convenience
of linking and somehow edited if needed).




Alexander Kopilovich                      aek@vib.usr.pu.ru
Saint-Petersburg
Russia