The key here seems to be the word "many."
Alaska Airlines has 289 airplanes (per wikipedia).
All the other arguments seem to assume a large consumer type of load - tens of thousands of users, etc...
I just can't see an undue strain being placed on a well designed system from < 300 data points. And I haven't even accounted for the distribution of needing to compute takeoff data over the course of a day nor how many planes are NOT taking off at the same time, etc...
Also, to somewhat change the topic, didn't Alaska Airlines disband their QA org a few years ago as part of cost cutting? IIRC, they did this to model the software company models (that ship bugs regularly to consumers) and seem to be getting some data that they need to bring back that org...
This, but with one twist: "... plan through how you could lower your expenses if the hammer falls."
Don't just plan - implement that plan now. You won't be any worse off, and will be much better prepared if the hammer actually falls.
If the hammer does NOT fall, then the money you saved while in this mode is just a nice little problem to have - pay down other debt, save it, etc...
I went through the 2000 .com bust and learned this lesson in time for the 2008 slowdown. It really helped and also allowed me to trim some unwanted expenses long term.
Disney has _passionate_ engineers, not necessarily good. Disney also has the mantra of "we will tell you if your idea is good," rather than empowering their software team to make positive changes. Finally, they pay far less than the industry average, so if you believe in a correlation between good pay and good people, you can see where they come up short.
It seems Disney relies on passionate people will do what is right for the customer in all aspects of their business. That's fine for working in the theme parks, but when you miss out on talented engineers, the folks that work there are passionate but get either blocked by lack of knowledge on how to make a desired change (they don't hire the best), or lack of management support to make the change (we will tell you if your idea is good).
All in all, in sums up to mantra "Disney is bad at tech."
Other data points - their website is horrid. I figured out once that only 23% of the page showed me information I wanted (reservation availability, park hours, etc...) and the other 77% was branding, whitespace or terrible nav UI.
D23 attendees had to install 2 apps, log into 1 and then were able to buy merchandise in the 2nd app.
And so on...
And their TV app is also buggy. I have 2 shows that I have watched all episodes that won't clear from the "currently watching" list. There is no way to 'give up' on a series and remove it from the currently watching list either.
It also logs me out if I walk away for a few minutes to grab some food or whatnot.
Steve Jackson Games has been running this daily blog for right at 29 years.
They think they may be the longest running blog around. Does anyone know of a longer running blog (and even where to find such information)?
Thanks!