The independent inquiry board set up to investigate the first explosive failure said the flight control system failed because of errors in computer software design.

BBC: Ariane 5: A short history

Office furniture maker Steelcase asked RWD to design a system that could help even computer-illiterate salesmen configure and price a suite of office furniture using a laptop.

FORBES: A well-rounded life

Students in the program learn to use computer-aided-drafting (CAD) to design a photovoltaic system, they learn about the sorts of issues that come up when designing such a system, and they learn about the installation and maintenance of such systems.

FORBES: Could Going Solar Save Teacher Salaries?

What our man Pascal Brisset did is design a Linux system around a Gumstix Overo Fire computer-on-module, a Vuzix VR920 head-mounted stereoscopic 640 x 480 display (complete with 3D tilt sensor and 3D magnetic compass), WiFi, and Bluetooth modules -- the whole shebang resides in (and on) the eyewear, just the thing for secure telepresence and augmented reality applications (or just extra-private web browsing).

ENGADGET: Homebrew head-mounted Linux system for telepresence, looking silly

Just as human-computer interaction was once a burgeoning new field and now is a given in system design, human-future interaction is poised to become more essential to our strategic planning and innovation processes.

FORBES: Hack Two: Design the Future

Students work on certification as Unix system administrators, and Sun helps with curriculum design, offers teacher internships and sets up computer labs, says Leslie Bowers, Sun's enterprise network services workforce program manager in Milpitas, Calif.

CNN: School-to-work programs: High hopes, low turnout

The K computer is a wholly made-in-Japan supercomputer, from the research and development of the processors, to system design and manufacturing.

ENGADGET: Fujitsu K supercomputer now ranked fastest in the world, dethrones China's Tianhe-1A