Red Planet: Microsoft.
This is old news, but I figured I'd make a comment on it anyways.
Mars has been the target of many an exploration since the dawn of the space program. recently (although really not all that recently) NASA sent two twin rovers to the red planet to look for signs of life, explore the geological formations that comprise Mars, study weather patterns, and so forth.
Earlier in the month, NASA sent two software updates to the twin rovers (Spirit and Opportunity) to add new capabilities for the mission. This has been done several times in the past for both rovers without incident.
However, it seems that the rover Spirit suffers from the same affliction that my desktop computer suffers from: Microsoft Updates. Evidently, the Microsoft corporation has decided that I as a user don't know how to update my computer, nor do I have the brains to know what updates I should get for the overall health of my computer. Therefore, in accordance with this idea, Microsoft has somehow found a way to circumvent my authority and download and install updates to my computer, then reboot the system. This is precisely what has happened with Spirit (well, I figure anyways - NASA doesn't really know why Spirit decided to reboot its system twice after the update). It all fits; somehow, Microsoft was able to get into the programming and download updates to the Spirit rover.
How about that? Even if I move to Mars, I'll still have to get automatic updates regardless of my desire for them or not. Wow.
So, with all this being said, see ya around the galaxy...
Mars has been the target of many an exploration since the dawn of the space program. recently (although really not all that recently) NASA sent two twin rovers to the red planet to look for signs of life, explore the geological formations that comprise Mars, study weather patterns, and so forth.
Earlier in the month, NASA sent two software updates to the twin rovers (Spirit and Opportunity) to add new capabilities for the mission. This has been done several times in the past for both rovers without incident.
However, it seems that the rover Spirit suffers from the same affliction that my desktop computer suffers from: Microsoft Updates. Evidently, the Microsoft corporation has decided that I as a user don't know how to update my computer, nor do I have the brains to know what updates I should get for the overall health of my computer. Therefore, in accordance with this idea, Microsoft has somehow found a way to circumvent my authority and download and install updates to my computer, then reboot the system. This is precisely what has happened with Spirit (well, I figure anyways - NASA doesn't really know why Spirit decided to reboot its system twice after the update). It all fits; somehow, Microsoft was able to get into the programming and download updates to the Spirit rover.
How about that? Even if I move to Mars, I'll still have to get automatic updates regardless of my desire for them or not. Wow.
So, with all this being said, see ya around the galaxy...