Quoting Len Bullard <cbullard@h...>:

> OTOH, let's say you are in BoonieHaha somewhere in a sandstorm with a
> wrongdong assembly torn out and you are trying to upgrade it for the first
> time with the newly shipped whazzenhammer.   It is always tough the first
> time, so you are in a live chat mode with the contractors back in the States
> and you are both looking at the same real-time 3D model decimated down from
> the original CAD models, integrated with the parts list and
> assembly/disassembly procedures.  There is absolutely nothing cutting edge
> or exotic about that technology to any of us who are familiar with 3D chat
> rooms with voice synths and/or VOIP.  Cheap off the shelf.  Of course, the
> diagnostics are live too so that is another data set the XML communications
> server is handling.  Look at ABNet for starters.
>
> All common workstation mojo.  The CD player is optional.  The chill is
> getting the digital data from the original drawings.  The W3DC CAD WG made
> that possible sometime back.  You can even use Collada for interchange.

I couldn't tell you. It amazed me when I found out and still even to  
this day to find that all/most modern steal warships *still* carry  
extra planks of wood to do (conflict) repairs. The reason is that it  
can be made quickly into anyshape and is strong enough to be  
indespensable. Makes a lot of sense actually when you think about it.

My own response is that I don't think the particular war machine that  
you are talking about is that interested in keeping things going and  
in good running shape forever like some other countries in the world  
that I can think of - not look too far away :-)

Therefore not much need for technical catalogs and parts lookups...  
just sell the junk off to a so called Allied country and let them fix  
it. Make a new one and use that for a while till the paint fades or  
the seats wear.

I work with parts-lookup products on a regular basis and can tell you  
that they are more and more sophisticated every year. PartSmart is  
quite a good product and does most things that you are talking about.  
The europeans have lots and many are slick.

3D is not so important. Most drawings can be reasonably represented in  
PDF as long as sufficient drilldown is provided.

Parts price handling is another ballgame however. And is a real  
problem in the industrial world. In the last 24 hours alone, we loaded  
85,000 new parts into one particular product database.

There's still a lot of room for improvement in that area..

Regards

David