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The Air Force, Navy and Marines will be patching F-35 software bugs for years after they take delivery (if they're lucky). (credit: Dan Stijovich @ Flickr)

The F-35's flight plan appears to have delays written all over it. A previously unreleased memo from Michael Gilmore, the Department of Defense's director for Operational Test and Evaluation (OT&E), details a list of problems that will likely hold up the testing of the final configuration of the aircraft—and will mean the "Block 2B" aircraft now being delivered to the Marine Corps soon will continue to be full of software bugs for years to come. But officials with the F-35's Joint Program Office (JPO) have downplayed the seriousness of Gilmore's concerns, with one military member of the office taking to the Facebook page of a defense publication to call the memo "whining."

The concerns center largely on testing of software components—many of which the JPO has deferred to keep the program close to its schedule, and which JPO leadership has suggested would be a waste of time and money to fix now—since they are in interim releases of the F-35's systems and an entirely new set of software will be completed for the final version of the F-35. But with the Marine Corps and Air Force scheduled to fly as many as five F-35A and F-35B aircraft at the Farnborough International Air Show this summer, and production of the aircraft ramping up, so much uncertainty about the software could lead to even more complications down the road—particularly as weapons systems are added to the aircraft.

"The current 'official schedule' to complete full development and testing of all Block 3F capabilities by 31 July 31, 2017 is not realistic," Gilmore wrote in the memo dated from December, which was first obtained by Aviation Week. Making that schedule would require dropping "a significant number of currently planned test points, tripling the rate at which weapons delivery events have historically been conducted, and deferring resolution of significant operational deficiencies to Block 4"—a software upgrade the aircraft won't see until at least 2021.

Microsoft posted revenue of $23.8 billion in the second quarter of its 2016 financial year, down 10 percent from the same quarter a year ago. Operating income was $6.0 billion, a 23 percent drop, and net income was $5.0 billion, a 15 percent fall. Earnings per share were $0.78, representing a 13 percent decline.

Just as it has done for the past few quarters, and mirroring Apple's earnings release earlier this week, Microsoft attributed a substantial part of the decline to the strong dollar. With prices outside the US being increased to preserve their dollar value, non-US sales are becoming decreasingly valuable to Microsoft. This depressed revenue by an estimated $1.2 billion. The company also reports that there was a further $1.9 billion impact from revenue deferrals related to Windows 10 and bundled software.

The cloud annualized revenue run rate—a conjectural number that former CEO Steve Ballmer described as "bullshit"—across all commercial offerings now stands at $9.4 billion, reflecting growth both in Office 365 and Azure. Current CEO Satya Nadella says that the opportunity represented by the enterprise cloud market is "larger than any market [Microsoft] has ever participated in."

(credit: Ken Bosma)

Xerox is set to split into two companies, with one focusing on its hardware business ("Document Technology") and another specializing in its outsourcing service business, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous sources.

The move is set to be formally announced as part of the company’s quarterly earnings on Friday.

The schism comes just two months after Carl Icahn, a noted billionaire investor, announced that he had acquired an eight percent stake in the company. Consequently, he will now control three seats on the company’s board.

Elon Musk, SpaceX chief executive, at the StartmeupHK Festival this week. Screen capture from YouTube. (credit: StartmeupHK)

During the StartmeupHK Festival in Hong Kong this week, an expansive Elon Musk addressed some key questions about SpaceX's ambitions for Mars, as well as his personal spaceflight plans.

For the last few months rumors have been swirling within the aerospace community about how the company would soon unveil an ambitious architecture that will allow it to begin human missions to Mars within a decade. In response to those rumors, a company source told Ars that nothing was "imminent," and that appears to be true.

During the forum, uploaded to YouTube, Musk said, "I'm hoping to describe that architecture later this year at IAC ... and I think that will be quite exciting." This year's International Astronautical Conference will be held in Guadalajara, Mexico, from September 26 to 30. This may include discussion of both a super-heavy rocket as well as starships that could ferry large numbers of people from Earth to Mars, known as the Mars Colonial Transporter.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler. (credit: NCTA)

As cable industry lobbyists criticize a Federal Communications Commission plan to inject competition into the set-top box market, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler today said cable company complaints are off-base.

Since becoming FCC chairman in 2013, Wheeler has repeatedly battled the cable industry even though he himself was once a cable lobbyist.

Wheeler's latest plan would force pay-TV companies to make video programming available to makers of third-party hardware or software without requiring a physical CableCard. This would let consumers watch the TV channels they pay for on other devices without having to rent a set-top box from the cable company.