Quoting Tomasz Siekierda <sierd...@gmail.com>:
On Mon, 5 Nov 2018 at 13:35, Roland Hughes
<rol...@logikalsolutions.com> wrote:
On 11/4/18 3:52 PM, Lars Knoll wrote:
>> On 4 Nov 2018, at 22:13, Roland Hughes
<rol...@logikalsolutions.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>> We already lose droves of Qt developers every year when Qt keeps
moving on but medical devices, border security systems like cargo
x-ray, train control systems, etc. have to fork their own version
of Qt because Qt keeps moving on without a 5-8 year LTS.
> Yes, the Open source and standard commercial versions come with a
maximum of 3 years for LTS releases. But you can get longer support
for Qt versions from The Qt Company though.
Three years isn't a drop of water in Lake Michigan. A completely new
surgical robot will take a minimum of 4 years design and prototyping
followed by 1-3 years of development (which must also include the
_entire_ manufacturing process for certification.) Then it goes through
clinical trials which can last upwards of 7 years. Once released to the
field it will be in maintenance/minor enhancement mode for 10 years or
more. This entire time the tool set must be locked down.
Since the tool is locked down, then it does not matter if Qt has moved
on or not, right? You're not allowed to upgrade/ change it anyway, you
have to stick to what you deployed. So there is no reason to complain
about lack of support here. That's the reality of such big and long
term projects. NASA also still keeps operational their computers from
1970 to handle Voyager missions. It does not mean that the
manufacturers of these PC are somehow obligated to support them
anymore.
This would be a gross missunderstanding of how the FDA "lockdown" is
actually applied. Minor bug fixes can have documentation generated via
an FDA approved process with dramatically reduced testing cycle since
it is mostly negative testing. (Negative testing being testing no
changes to other existing functionality.) The definition of "minor" is
totally within the purview of the FDA and argued case by case.
As far as manufacturers and obligations, see below.
Just this year a drug manufacturer in California fielded a job opening
looking for a PDP-11 systems manager familiar with hardware maintenance.
Some of you may recall that a PDP-11 was the machine C and UNIX were
developed on in the 1970s. It was _the_ midrange computer of its day but
hasn't been manufactured since the late 1980s.
And you bring this up because PDP-11 is still supported by its
(non-existing by since 20 years) manufacturer just like Qt should?
There are quite a few places still providing support for the PDP-11
line. Quite a few companies stock piled 11/24 and 11/44 machines as
others moved to VAX, ALPHA, and ITANIUM. Ownership of the line moved
from DEC to Compaq to HP.
Shortly after Compaq consumed Digital Equipment Corporation, Microsoft
paid them a bunch of money to announce the death of OpenVMS in a bid
to get feeble Windows servers running on Compaq PCs into data centers
where they were previously barred. Some corporations started to make
the move. The NSA and DOD paid Compaq a Microsoft a visit. They showed
them the sales and support contracts making cessation of the platform
an act of treason and informed the leaders of both companies just how
lengthy their prison time would be. You see, Bill Gates could bribe
Bill and Hillary Clinton to make the Janet Reno investigation go in a
"don't put Bill in prison for wire and mail fraud" direction, but the
DOD and NSA weren't smiling and given their budgets, no interested in
any bribe either company could offer.
Compaq then announced they weren't killing off OpenVMS and Bill Gates
stepped out of the go-to-prison hot seat as part of the apology. The
other details I do not know. I do know there was much more than that
involved.
NASA had, and probably still has similar contracts.
These long term support contracts are why we have $12 wooden pencils
and $800 hammers. That __EXACT__ product has to remain available and
replacable for many many decades. Even if every tree of that type dies
on the planet, the vendor who signed the contract must still find a
way to make that __EXACT__ pencil with that __EXACT__ wood and other
components. There is still a vendor prodiving 8 inch floppies to the
DOD because they are used to boot the nuclear missile launch systems.
Given the short life of floppies, they aren' surviving on a eBay
stockpile. They are actually making them every so often.
If Qt wishes to play in the embedded world, it has to come to grips
with this reality. It's not a "chase the latest idiot phone trend"
world. This is why you are starting to see various companies who would
otherwise consider each other competitors banding together to maintain
the now abandoned Qt releases. Most every year or at least every other
year I get emails and calls about doing Qt 3 work on OS/2 from this
Harman (sp?) consulting firm. Minor changes to an existing medical
device whose systems were built using those tools.
One of my past clients had almost nothing to do with the DOD post
WW-II, but, they still have all of the equipment to make torpedos for
said boats and ships. They must keep it on site in good condition
until the contract ends. I've been told that contract doesn't end
until the last vessel of war capabile of firing said munitions is
scuttled. I have not personally seen the contract, nor do I wish to.
You will find every major manufacturer which existed during WW-II has
a similar contract for something else. These contracts don't expire
until the DOD deems what they manufactured non-strategic and disposes
of it.
--
Roland Hughes, President
Logikal Solutions
(630) 205-1593
http://www.theminimumyouneedtoknow.com
http://www.infiniteexposure.net
http://www.johnsmith-book.com
http://www.logikalblog.com
http://www.interestingauthors.com/blog
http://lesedi.us
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