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Soviet Computer Software and Applications in the 1980'S

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Soviet Computer Software and Applications in the 1980'S RESEARCH REPORT T O THE NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR SOVIET AND EAST EUROPEAN RESEARC H TITLE : SOVIET COMPUTER SOFTWAR E AND APPLICATIONS IN THE 1980 S AUTHOR : Richard W . Judy Robert W . Cloug h CONTRACTOR : Hudson Institute, Inc . PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR : Hans Heymann, Jr . COUNCIL CONTRACT NUMBER : 801-0 5 DATE : June 198 9 The work leading to this report was supported by funds provided b y the National Council for Soviet and East European Research . Th e A analysis and interpretations contained in the report are those o f the authors . NOTE This report is an incidental product of the Council - funded research contract identified on the face page . It is not the Final Report under that contract, whic h was distributed in May 1989 . 4 Soviet Computer Software an d Applications in the 1980s by Richard W. Judy an d Robert W. Clough HI-4090-P January 9, 198 9 Subsection of "The Implications of the Information Revolutio n for Soviet Society" This study was funded, in part, by the National Counci l For Soviet and East European Research Herman Kahn Center n P .O. Box 26919 n Indianapolis. IN 46226 ( Soviet Computer Software and Application s in the 1980s by Richard W. Judy and Robert W . Clough* Introduction and Summary 3 Soviet Software Developments in the 1980s 10 Key Elements of Soviet Software 1 0 Operating Systems 1 0 RIAD Operating Systems 1 1 SM Operating Systems 14 . Micro Operating Systems 1 6 Programming Languages 1 8 Application Programs 2 1 Data Base Management Systems (DBMS) for RIAD and S M Computers 2 1 Personal Computer Applications 27 The Soviet Software Industry: Issues and Prospects 30 Application and Absorption of Computers in the Soviet Union 36 ASU: Automated Systems of Control 36 Two Families of ASUs 39 The Early Enthusiasm for Organizational ASUs 40 The Shift Toward Production ASUs 43 Soviet Research and Development Applications 45 Computers in Western R&D 45 Distributed Information Systems to the Fore 46 User Friendliness and the Man-Machine Interface 47 Parallel Processing and the "Fifth Generation" 48 Supercomputers and More Computers 49 R&D as a Consumer of Information Technology 49 Teamwork and Creation in Modern Science and Technology 50 The Importance of Informal Communication Among Scientists 5 1 Richard W. Judy is a Senior Research Fellow and Robert W . Clough is a Research Analyst of Hudson Institute, Indianapolis, Indiana . The views expressed herein are th e authors' own. The research reported for this paper was supported in part by the Nationa l Council for Soviet and East European Research and assisted by a travel grant from IREX , the International Research and Exchanges Board . The authors gratefully thank Virgini a Clough of Hudson Institute and Steven Flinn of Indiana University for their vital assistance . Computers in Soviet Research and Development 52 Computer Usage in Soviet R&D Institutions 54 Some Examples of Soviet R&D Computer Establishments 5 9 The Impact of Computer Deficiencies on Soviet R&D 63 Computer Networking in the USSR 7 1 Types of Soviet Computer Networks 72 The Progress and Problems of Soviet Computer Networking 74 Soviet Bibliographical Networks 75 The Science and Technology Information Network (SATsNTI) 75 The All-Union Scientific and Technical Information Center of the Stat e Committee of Science and Technology (VNTITs GKNT) 8 1 Akademset': The Network of the Academy of Sciences 82 Scientific Networking in the West: Some Relevant Contrasts 92 Remarks on Communications in the Soviet R&D Community 94 Computer Aided Design (CAD) 95 Computer Aided Design in the West 95 Soviet CAD Objectives 97 Soviet CAD Experience 98 Soviet Hardware for CAD 10 1 ( Soviet Software for CAD 11 1 Soviet Installations of CAD : Some Examples 114 Problems and Resistance 11 6 Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM) 11 9 The Components of CAM 11 9 Numerically Controlled (NC) machine tools 11 9 Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) Machine Tools 120 Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS) 120 Computer Aided Process Planning (CAPP) 12 1 Computer Aided Quality Control (CAQ) 122 Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) 122 Western Literature About Soviet CIM 123 Soviet CAM Objectives 123 Soviet CAM Experience 126 Soviet Hardware for CAM 126 Soviet CAM Software 134 Soviet Applications of CAM: Some Examples 13 6 CAM in the USSR: Problems and Evaluations 13 9 A Final Note on Soviet CAM 147 A Profile of Computer Usage in the Leningrad Region 148 Endnotes 153 Bibliography 165 2 1. Introduction and Summary Does Ivan compute? If not, why? If so, how and how well? And if not well, wha t price does he pay for it ? Reduced to their essentials, these are the main questions addressed in this paper . We purposely do not pose the question, "Can Ivan compute?" because the evidence clearl y indicates that he can . One need not reach for the image of the Soviet space shuttle Buran executing flawless orbital flight and landing totally under automatic control to make the point. There are plenty of other examples to support the contention that Sovie t programmers are a talented subspecies. Ivan can compute, but the fact is that he does les s of it than Johnny...or Pierre or Fritz. Indeed, it seems that he does proportionately less o f it than anybody else in the developed world . Still, computers do exist in the USSR, probably more than 200,000 of them . In a companion paper, we have surveyed the state of Soviet computer hardware .1 Another companion paper addresses the state of Soviet telecommunications? Here we survey some aspects of the Soviet computer software world and examine how computers are applied i n several of the fields that enjoy a high level of official support . Section 2 concentrates on Soviet software . One main conclusion to emerge is that Soviet systems software in widespread use, i .e., operating systems and programmin g languages, derives entirely from the West . Up to a point, that is hardly surprising given that Soviet mainframes, minicomputers, and microcomputers are all technological derivatives of Western predecessors and that one of the purposes of copying Wester n hardware designs is to gain access to the vast "library" of applications software alread y developed in the West. Perhaps more surprising is the fact that the Soviets, b y 3 unimaginatively following Western precedents, have saddled themselves with the sam e deficiencies that plagued the Western originals. Until now, Soviet software engineers have lavished little or no creativity on their systems software . The applications software scene in the USSR is strikingly different than its counterpart in the United States, which has a multi-billion dollar per year industry engage d in designing and developing commercial software for every category of compute r equipment. Software companies market products aimed at customers from the broades t "horizontal" user groups to the narrowest "vertical" niches .3 With one exception, horizontal applications software barely exists in the USSR . That exception is data base management systems (DBMS) which are surveyed in section 2.1 .3 . As with systems software, the most widely used Soviet DBMSs are either direct copies or derivatives of Western products . Conceptual originality appears entirely absent . One design of the late 1980s is toward DBMSs that employ Russian syntax (as opposed t o English in the earlier versions) and are otherwise somewhat more user-friendly . Another trend follows earlier Western moves to exploit the growing computing power and memor y capacity provided by new hardware models. Still, Soviet DBMS technology lags far behin d Western levels . Most other applications software in the Soviet Union is custom-developed by users or their ministries. Although inter-ministerial software clearinghouses do exist, the softwar e that they receive is typically bug-ridden, poorly documented, and badly supported . Understandably, few elect to use this "bugwear" and most packages offered by th e clearinghouses are used by nobody other than their creators . Within enterprises, and eve n ministries, the quality of some applications software is thought to be rather high althoug h 4 much of it represents mediocre and expensive duplication of effort . The Soviets are now producing tens of thousands of IBM-compatible persona l computers each year; they will soon be producing (or purchasing abroad) hundreds of thousands of them annually . There can be little doubt that the authorities have decided t o press ahead with the PC "revolution" at least to the extent of equipping millions of Soviet offices with these machines . Soviet PC software is, if anything, even more derivative than software for mainframes and minicomputers . Pirated or slightly modified versions of popular first-generation Western CP/ M software abounds in the Soviet PC world. In large part, this is due to the numerica l preponderance of PCs employing the Soviet version of Intel's older 8080 micro-processor . Unauthorized copies and modifications of WORDSTAR, SUPERCALC, and dBASE II circulate and are even described in the Soviet literature . Although MS-DOS software is beginning to appear, it is not yet so predominate among Soviet PC users as it is in the West. That will change with the growth in the installed base of Soviet PCs using Intel' s 8086, 8088, and other more recent chips or their clones . The Soviet applications software industry is and has always been a shambles . Indeed, it does not deserve to be called an "industry ." This sorry state of affairs is entirely obvious to both users and industry leaders but, to date, Soviet policy makers have bee n unable to deal effectively with it. The problem is so recalcitrant because it reflects endemi c weaknesses of the larger Soviet economic system. Efforts to remedy the problem by exhortation, creation of new bureaucratic entities with no real authority, and cracking ministerial heads have all proven ineffective .
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