About This Particular Macintosh 6.04 - eDisk

While these improvements will reduce the number of mechanical failures, other, more drasticoverhauls are being planned.First, the aging computer hardware in the shuttles will be stripped out and replaced withbrand new G4’s. NASA is looking for the beefiest components they can get their hands onwhile holding the line on expenditures—and the G4 fits the bill nicely.Seeing as NASA is going with the Motorola processor, they have hired a private consultingfirm to completely rewrite the ageing software to run on Mac OS 9. The belief is that thiscombination of hardware and software will greatly improve how well the shuttle will perform,cutting unnecessarily aborted liftoffs by two thirds.Of course, one question which begs to be asked is “Why Apple?” With all of the other powerful,modern operating systems, chips and software out there, what made NASA go withMacintosh?“Ease of use,” said Roger Macisgreat from NASA’s Computer Operations Division. “Whywould we want our astronauts to waste valuable time in orbit trying to reconfigure .ini fileswhen they should be conducting their experiments or resting? When it comes down to itApple truly has the superior software, plus the Motorola G4 chip allows us to bring supercomputinginto orbit. I believe the taxpayers will appreciate this move.”So the next time you watch a shuttle launch on TV, or look into the deep, dark night to catcha glimpse of the shuttle as it soars through the sky, you can feel proud to know that it is poweredby a Mac.“Apple Cider: Random Squeezings from a Mac user” is copyright © 2000 Tom Iovino, tiovino@atpm.com.ATPM 6.04 ← 17 →Columns: Deep Space Mac