The United States cannot escape from the antediluvian technology
We tend to think that the West is commonly used the most advanced technologies in all sectors of the reign of continuous innovation. To argue with the fact that we are far behind in technology compared to the United States is meaningless, but for the sake of objectivity, we'll have a little exposure. It turns out that the progress looked everywhere and in some cases in the United States use a real e-relics.
World's fastest production car McLaren F1, with maximum speed 392 km/h and accelerates to "hundreds" in just 3.2 seconds, it will cost when you purchase in the amount from 10 to 15 million dollars. In the making of this monster was used the most innovative materials and progressive technologies. The McLaren F1 was produced from 1992 to 1998 and was top in all respects.
Oddly enough, the manufacturers of the machine didn't lift a finger in order to upgrade these vehicles for their service until last year used the ancient Compaq LTE 5280 laptop running MS-DOS. Fortunately for owners of luxury cars, recently the program has learned to emulate the Windows and now, for service you can use the new laptops.
Even worse one of the most extensive in the world of subways new York. To manage incredibly complex system of trains there that still use equipment 30‑ies of XX century. Lamp Board, bulky transformers, noisy cooling system and semi-automated management — thanks to this switch arrows and operators get guidance on the routes.
In that case, if something goes down, to help the new York city subway system, no one can have the forces to do their own repair shops. City officials still have upgraded one of the lines, but it took an incredible amount of $ 228 million and as much as 6 years. This is not surprising, after all, had to change everything. Just as in the Big Apple 36 subway lines, the immediate retrofitting can not wait.
A joke about the fact that to run computer games with high requirements, you may need a NASA computer is not very relevant. The fact that the American space Agency is quite conservative and prefer reliable and time-tested "old men". A good example can become a space ship Orion, created 5 years ago specifically for the conquest of Mars.
On Board the ship is mounted on-Board computer Honeywell International Inc. single-core IBM PowerPC 750FX, released in 2002. Love this old NASA explained by the fact that until now you have not created anything as good as these computers. On Board the Orion, there are three devices, the probability of simultaneous failure of which is 1 to 1 870 000. It is also believed that IBM PowerPC 750FX is less exposed to the radiation, which is the Bane of many systems operating in space.
Many have seen photos of American soldiers working for antiquated computers with monochrome displays. This is not an attempt to denigrate the Pentagon, giving the old photo of the "Nove", and the harsh prose army life. Just two years ago in the report of the accounts chamber of the United States has information that the basis of the control systems of Intercontinental ballistic missiles, strategic bombers and dressed them flying tankers are computers based on processors IBM the first series.
The us military still uses 8‑inch floppy disks, which can hardly explain even born in the 80s. it is safe to say that technology that defenses mighty superpower, is obsolete in the late 70‑ies of the last century. The military explain this mess to a lack of funds, as well as fond memories of high reliability electronics 40 years of age.
When the famous singer released a successful album, it is customary to speak of "gold" or "platinum" drives. What would you say if we told you that in order to protect their intellectual and creative property, American stars give their creations to the Bureau under copyright law USA on magnetic media? This applies not only to music, but also movies. And need not a vintage VHS and Betamax absolutely prehistoric, which many of us have not heard.
It is also worth noting that all the documentation in this important institution is conducted in paper form. If suddenly you need to find something, the search can take many hours of turning dusty directories in a huge, cluttered with racks of files.
There are other sectors of human activity, where progress will not visit — listing them would take too much time. Despite actively promoted in the foreign market technologies, the United States remains quite conservative and very Thrifty country where the innovations made in the case, when no other way is not.
Keywords: United States | Space | Science | North America | Technology | Computer | Antiquities