Reboot

I'm writing this on a delayed UA99 flight from Melbourne to Los Angeles. The reason for the delay is the faulty A/C unit. The situation was nicely explained by the captain: "The Dreamliner is a fantastic plane but is fully computerized and sometimes computers report some errors and the usual way we deal with them is reboot. Sometimes it takes a couple of reboots and for some subsystems we are not allowed to reboot them once airborne. The unit is working fine now but we may have to turn off the entertainment system on the way, if the cabin temperature raises.".

Yeah. Reboot. The new normal. The old joke of a developer fixing a broken car by getting out and getting in again is no longer a joke. Out / in has become the normal way to deal with things. From phones to planes. And chances are this system will soon cover door locks, lamps, kitchen white goods and other everyday equipment - thanks to the IoT.

Only yesterday there was a discussion between on of our development managers and the lead developer. The manager was complaining the watchdogs in our software were disabled. The engineer explained this was on purpose to be able to see the results of long term stress endurance tests.

The systems around us are becoming exponentially complex. So complex and so dependent on each other that we often have no clue how to deal with them. It is not only about a reboot. It is abut the sequence of reboots of subsystems that depend on each other,

Is it a death spiral?

In some ways yes, and the reason is the economy. Everything has to be competitive, market - wise. Travelers select the cheapest flights, airlines buy the most economical aircraft, aircraft manufacturers do not have time and budgets to polish the systems and they sent them half - stable for service.

Do we accept this? Of course yes. Reboots is the new normal for everyone. We no longer care. Building ultimately reliable systems has become a niche hobby of eccentric engineers.