[Discuss] Programming vs Engineering

[Richard Pieri]

Case in point, this article that just came down through Slashdot:
http://www.digitalbond.com/2012/01/19/project-basecamp-at-s4/

Imagine a highway or building or train or airliner being designed and constructed to the same standards that these SCADA systems were made.  Take it another step: imagine medical equipment designed the same way that these SCADA systems were.  Now be afraid because medical equipment really is designed the same.

It gets worse: that medical equipment can't be updated.  They can't be updated because changing anything will push them off spec, will violate whatever EAL the devices have, and will make them legally unusable for medical practice.  Many of these are running old operating systems -- like Windows 98 old -- without any patches at all.  And yet, we trust quite literally our lives to these things.

--Rich P.