this is why I find comparing mostly-solid-state stuff with big mechanical contraptions a frustrating exercise.

it's more impressive to me that the electric fans within the Stratus server still operate than it is that the chips still work, and if we're going with the plane metaphor it's the silicon that puts the thing into the air, not the simple fans.

So really it just boils down to "well, the planes work is harder." as to why it fails, which is of course abstract and unsatisfying; comparing the comparative lifetime workloads of a chip that has shifted trillions of bits versus some jet engines that have moved millions of kilograms around the world.

and then another layer comes and makes it even weirder : the vast majority of hardware around the world that has been EoLd and replaced has been in that situation due to software, not the hardware itself; a paradigm that really doesn't exist in the physical engineering world in the same was as it does CS.

Mechanical integrity in industrial processes is often divided into two categories: static equipment (tanks, pipes, heat exchangers...) and rotating equipment.

These two have very distinct failure modes. The failure mechanisms for solid state electronics are much more similar to those for static equipment (corrosion, thermal fatigue, creep, ...)

The chips themselves aren't surprising, but there are other electronic components that may fail earlier like capacitors

That would not be a useful airliner.

Mr Bones wild ride

But really didn't the NSA have something that was roughly an airliner in perpetual flight?

Spy blimp!

Yeah, it’s not a good comparison. Give me endless parts and a maintenance window of 6 months every so often and I can make any server last a century.

Was going to say, there's servers that last several decades, they receive routine maintenance, most people buy a computer, and rarely replace parts, and if enough years pass, you opt to buy a new one instead.

I'm not sure, but I think there are a few submarines that have remained underwater for that long.

Absolutely not. They come up for shift changes at the very least, and more.

Name one.

I think most of the time the navy does that.

You could have just said “I can’t”

Naval vessels are some of the most maintained machines in the world. They get hauled out for hull repairs routinely, or put into long term maintenance facilities for months while they are repaired. Probably second only to airplanes and space craft.

You'll find for sure an old DC3 somewhere, and a Cessna 172 also. And according to https://www.oldest.org/technology/planes-still-flying/ there are still 40 year old 737's in the air