1.1M views · Oct 8, 2007 · 1:01 · 0 HN recommenders · 3 mentions · discussed 2010–2024
A short EDS television commercial that shows an airplane being built while it is in flight. It is an early use of the 'building the plane as it flies' metaphor.
Why Hacker News points people here: HN mentions it mainly as the origin of the phrase about rebuilding a plane mid-flight, usually applied to software projects.
“dates back to at least 2000, to these commercials for EDS”HN comment, 2024
“dates back to at least 2000, to these commercials for EDS”
Early commercial using the building a plane as it flies metaphor.
For curious readers, the "building a plane as it flies" metaphor dates back to at least 2000, to these commercials for EDS: this video I thought it was IBM but I was quite mistaken, so good thing I looked it up lol
“I've never understood that ad - it always screams”
this video Why build them first. // I've never understood that ad - it always screams "we don't take proper care" to me..
“It's really hard to rebuild a plane while in flight”
It's really hard to rebuild a plane while in flight Obviously these people didn't know that this video [Disclaimer - I used to work for them]
