, which in the USA is the date in which we mercilessly play jokes on one another... This was my little joke to you.
Today is one of the biggest of my life. I'm jumping out of my skin so I'll just get right to it: NASA (yes, that NASA) has just confirmed that SubSonic has qualified to be part of the NASA/Ames OpenSource arsenal. This is a MAJOR accomplishment (as you can imagine) and this is just step one.
Why SubSonic?
That's what I wanted to know! It turns out that NASA uses a lot of different kinds of software, and has it's very own wing at IBM to produce the software for the Shuttle. The problem is, it's very, very outdated. The Shuttle software was designed and created in the late 70's/80's for hardware that was, well OLD. Now that processing speeds have increased and technology has expanded, it's time to update the core.
So being the smart guys that they are over there, they've come up with a "think-tank" approach, and are incubating the OpenSource software that they deem "worthy". The core idea is that they can "meld" these projects - work them to a level where they are CMM-5 certified, and then begin the process of replacing core technology points within NASA. And YES, this includes the Shuttle software.
NASA feels that SubSonic best utilizes Microsoft's "scale out" methodology with built-in thread-safety and multi-database support. Each Shuttle flight has FIVE failover computers, and you can imagine the requirements for moving data around! Of all the DB tools tested, SubSonic came out on top!
A Few Caveats
There are some things I'll have to change and deal with as we start the process to get SubSonic CMM-5 certified (it's currently rated CMM-4). One of the first is changing the name (yet again!). NASA doesn't like the "speed" suggestion of SubSonic since the Shuttle actually travels faster than the speed of sound. So as of now, we're changing the name again to SUPERSonic - in all caps, just like that.
The next thing is I have to get Level 8 Security clearance to even attend the meetings within NASA. I've been told that it's actually pretty simple to get - as long as you don't have tattoos and long hair. Problem is that I do have tattoos, but I'm going to get them removed this week.
I also have an Ace in the Hole: Eric Kemp used to be an intern for Condoleeza Rice at the State Department. He had security clearance for that work, and I might just flex that and make him the point-person for this whole thing.
I can now happily tell people that what I do actually IS Rocket-Science! And when I watch the Shuttle launch, I'll know that somewhere up there my Query tool is firing away happily, taking people to the stars.
