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Rick Marshall wrote: > 2) software systems do degrade, as mentioned by > changing external systems. but with modern hardware reliability i think > hardware now has more in common that software in this respect. eg most > of the hardware upgrades we complete are now due to obsolesence rather > than failure In computers, perhaps. But in airplanes, automobiles, lawnmowers, microwave ovens, refrigerators, and many other forms of hardware, no. The fact is a modern computer doesn't have all that many moving parts, which is what leads to parts wearing out. (There's the hard drive, the fan, the CD-tray, maybe a button or two, anything else?) However, even well-lubricated, well-maintained motor based hardware experiences significant friction that will degrade parts over time. Off the top of my head I don't know why microwave ovens wear out, but they certainly do as well. There's just no equivalent to friction-driven wear-and-tear on software. -- Elliotte Rusty Harold elharo@m... XML in a Nutshell 3rd Edition Just Published! http://www.cafeconleche.org/books/xian3/ http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0596007647/cafeaulaitA/ref=nosim
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