[Info-vax] Don't worry, HP's project Moonshot will save us

[Bob Koehler]

In article <asydnYU5vd_qGPHMnZ2dnUVZ8qidnZ2d at bt.com>, chris <meru at devnull.com> writes:
> 
> Development pace was ragged edge and exciting when I first started
> in computing and there were new developments and applications every
> week. Now, everything has coalesced down to commodity and there's been
> no real development in decades, just continuous refinement of existing
> technology.

   That depends on what part of the industry you work in.  When you
   work close to custom hardware, typically one-off, there is no off
   the shelf application.

   In scientific computing, folks have to come up with new algorithms
   to test new theories and analyze new data every day.

   In accounting, nothing new has happened since the origin of the
   row and column paper "spreadsheet", except that it has become
   electronic.

   If I'm running a business, I probaly want an off the shelf
   application to track inventory, accounts recievable, ...

   When the fellow down the hall was working on his Nobel winning
   research, he might not have had a COTS product that could do the
   analysis.