Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!gem.mps.ohio-state.edu!apple!apple.com!dowdy From: dowdy@apple.com (Tom Dowdy) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: Re: More Mac-related earthquake news Message-ID: <4929@internal.Apple.COM> Date: 27 Oct 89 17:24:31 GMT Sender: usenet@Apple.COM Organization: Apple Computer, Inc. Lines: 92 References:<18735@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> <4896@internal.Apple.COM> <18815@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> <4906@internal.Apple.COM> <18836@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> This is a bit long, but I'd rather fill in all of the details than let this keep going on any longer.I've resisted posting anything on this subject, but since nobody who was "there when it happened" has posted, and it seems so important to all of you, I guess I'll chip in with some facts. First, for those not from the area, the Cupertino-Sunnyvale-Los Altos-Santa Clara-Mt View areas are small communities and all kinda sit near San Jose, about 20-30 miles north-east of Santa Cruz, about 50 miles south from SF. The news kept showing those areas which were hit hard, namely, SF, Oakland, Santa Cruz and Los Gatos. However, what they didn't show was that most of the areas named above got minimal damage. I count myself as very lucky, not one thing broke in my apartment, and I had power restored later that first night. There just wasn't any of the mass destruction you see on TV going on down here. I don't know why, but I'm sure it has to do with the ground in these areas and where they were in relationship to the motion of the quake. "There but for the grace of God go I..." In article <18836@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> c8s-an@franny.Berkeley.EDU (Alex Lau) writes: > >[ someone says that DA3 is sound ] > This is what bothers me... if it's structurally sound, why such a hurry > to renovate? Just a thought... Because a building can be structurally sound without being "workable." While people are repairing stairwells, drying floors, putting back in glass, etc, it can be pretty impossible to work. The most important thing was to get people out and into a situation where they can get their work done. And once you have all of the people out and working, why not take the chance to upgrade the building, rather than moving them back in and disturbing them again later? DA3 wasn't going to fall down, but with wet floors, stairwells that needed work and glass that popped out, it was going to be more than a week before us folks in system software could work well. In addition, they have said that the renovation of the building can now take place in about 1/3 of the time that it would have with people hanging around in the building. > The reason I (and many others) are so interested in DeAnza 3 is its > importance in research & development, especially in the development of > new System software. People seem to be hinting that the problems in DA3 are somehow effecting system software. Okay, let's clear that up once and for all. I'm in system software. I was on the 4th floor of DA3 when the quake hit. Facilities: By *Sunday* I was out and in my new cube across the street, along with every single other person in system software. The move was going to take place in the November-December time frame anyway, but got moved up a bit. It would have taken longer to clean up the 4th floor of DeAnza than it did to move us across the street. And this way, we wouldn't have to clean up, and then lose more time moving when November-December rolled around. So after the move, it doesn't matter *what* happens to DA3, we are all out of it and working. Software: The file servers were all intact and all of the source code is just fine. It was all backed up off-site on tapes anyway, but none of the servers were lost, so backups didn't need to be brought in. And since everyone backs up on a daily basis to the file servers, anyone who lost a hard disk couldn't have lost more than a day. In addition, since projector is used to keep track of the projects, you basically have n+1 backups of the software, where n is the number of people working on that project and 1 is the file server copy. Lost engineering days: Many (myself included) worked at home during the forced days off. I can only watch MTV and play my Sega for so long without going nuts. :-) I took the chance to catch up on design work and some investigation that I'd been putting off. Since I have a machine at home, I even took the chance to write some new code. If this still makes you think that Apple is somehow "covering up" something about the quake, then I think you're making much more of this than it is. And if you really think that we would have done something so silly as not having archival backups of all of the ROM and system software sources off-site, then you are just plain wrong. Apple is a California based company, and as such, part of the cost of living in this area is being prepared for such events. Those at Apple who needed to be prepared were. As mentioned before, Facilties, Telecom, and the hardware support groups did a wonderful job and worked some killer hours to make this move happen *faster than a normal move does* in a situation that wasn't really the best. Huzza! Tom Dowdy Internet: dowdy@apple.COM Apple Computer MS:81EQ UUCP: {sun,voder,amdahl,decwrl}!apple!dowdy 20525 Mariani Ave AppleLink: DOWDY1 Cupertino, CA 95014 "The 'Ooh-Ah' Bird is so called because it lays square eggs."