Just Boot It

by Ben

April 1, 2005

In today's day and age, personal computers, like the one you are sitting at now are dependent on a number of pieces of hardware all working in perfect harmony for it to function properly. These systems are rather fragile, and don't tend to hold up to abuse or intrusion from outside software.  In the world of Gundam SEED, they are bound heavily by the same principles as our modern systems, but a number of marked improvements have occurred. For one, The OS system of mobile suits has taken on what appears to be the fundamentals of open source control. In the first episode of Gundam SEED, Kira was able to jump into the Strike Gundam, and within minutes completely reprogram the computer. Several more times during the series he makes the same on the fly changes and calculations that can make or break the ability to function. It is interesting that in our modern systems, of which 90% contain the same, closed source software, viruses, hacks and bugs are so prevalent because people who could have caught or fixed errors weren't allowed access. Now given, If Murrue had a choice, Kira would never have gotten into the Strike Gundam in the first place to reprogram it, but the fact that he COULD is what is important.

Today's computer systems are developed around the principle of being
multifaceted and multifunction. Devices that aren't required to perform this type of adaptability, such as or portable DVD players, Digital Cameras and Pagers are dramatically more secure and more reliable. So what makes the operating systems in Gundam SEED which require more adaptability not only to new software but new hardware on the fly so much more usable and stable? How is it that the Strike Gundam, and now the Impulse Gundam are the ultimate Plug and Play devices? There is a simple answer for that –

Isolated Computing.

This is a technology we use today for military applications, but at the same time, we are gradually moving away from it and into a dangerous completely wired world. If you have ever seen the movie War Games, you have a general idea of how dangerous the Internet can be. Nothing is protected, everything is connected. Control is an illusion when others have any chance of access.

In a mobile suit, the computing systems of the unit are 100% isolated
from each other. Movement control, weapons operations, communications, they are all independent systems that can be controlled synonymously but are not interlinked. Kira was able to easily adjust the weight and balancing of the Strike Gundam as well as its response time to make it more compatible with his movement; however, while he had access to those features, he was not aware of the phase shift armor or the
additional technologies. He was familiar with how a mobile suit worked, but not with these new, independent systems. Another excellent example, the Impulse Gundam, engaged in combat with the Zamza-Zah was nearly destroyed when its Phase Shift armor depleted its battery supply, however its flight ability and movement ability were unaffected, lending to the idea of a completely isolated system.

The fact that the Impulse Gundam/Strike Gundam could immediately sync
with an outside power source and weapons pack lends to the idea of
individual controls and systems for each different pack, that were activated only when connected. It could be explained as simple as that plugging in the unit hit the on switch on a given program, activating that ability. The functionality was always there, but it was disabled by the missing "key" from the individual packs.

The same can be said of the phase shift armor itself. Every other
Gundam had the Phase Shift armor activated by default, while Strike's
Phase Shift would usually stay dormant awaiting a mission pack with
additional battery power. There were a few notable exceptions, but the
Strike's operational time was very limited.

All of these factors make the Gundams of SEED dramatically more
reliable than modern computers and dramatically more efficient. With
PC power supplies today topping 600 watts, strictly to run visual feeds, its incredible to think about the amount of wasted power if we were running the same efficiency in 100-200 years. Battery power alone wouldn't sustain us. Now we know why nuclear engines are preferred.

I look forward to a day without Microsoft, viruses and wasted power,
but for the time being… Ill be content to play MMOs and watch Gundam.

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