US Supercomputer Lead Sparks Russian Govt's Competitive Drive 74
CWmike writes "Russia's launch of Sputnik in 1957 triggered a crisis of confidence in the US that helped drive the creation of a space program. Now, Russia is comparing the US's achievements in supercomputing with theirs, and they don't like what they see. In a speech on Tuesday, Russia's President, Dmitry Medvedev, criticized his country's IT industry almost to the point of sarcasm for failing to develop supercomputing technology, and urged a dramatic change in Russia's use of high-performance computing. Medvedev, at the opening address of a Security Council Meeting on Supercomputers in Moscow, told attendees that 476 out of the 500 supercomputers on the Top500 list were manufactured in the United States. 'Therefore, in general, our situation is very difficult,' he said."
Remarkable Idea (Score:3, Insightful)
Send some dudes to America with some cash and buy some nice computing equipment. Do you have some serious computing to do? Or do you have a serious need to build new computers?
They can buy them from China just like the US does (Score:1, Insightful)
With most of the work done in developing motherboards, stamping silicon, and exporting the machines done in China, Russia can buy their computers from the same source as the US.
Plus, with the advances in malware, why own a computercomputer when you can pwn it?
Re:Remarkable Idea (Score:2, Insightful)
Supercomputers for the sake of supercomputers? (Score:1, Insightful)
So what? Suddenly we have to start building supercomputers in Russia?
Lack of supercomputers means nobody needs them. That's an indication that Russia is falling behind in technology in general. You can't fix this just by building some supercomputers.
Something more fundamental must be done: fight corruption, establish rule of law, create infrustructure. Then the high-tech industry will emerge by itself. No need for the government to build supercomputers.
Supercomps vs Botnets (Score:5, Insightful)