[I've never really understood calls for software creators to be "held accountable" for programming errors. First, because programming errors can cause unpredictable damage, potentially-liable software firms would respond by raising prices for software. That would impose an additional cost on consumers -- the same folks ostensibly helped by the plan. Second, there's nothing stopping a software company from offering a warranty today. That they don't seems like a reflection of the fact that there's little demand for it, at least at the higher prices that would be necessary to cover costs. Third, I'm leery of what such a law would do to the GPL and similar licenses, which typically say "no warranty at all." Fourth, there already are mechanisms that permit makers of really buggy software to be punished -- reputation, for instance, when customers compare notes or reviewers notice. --Declan] --- Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2003 00:27:35 -0400 To: Declan McCullagh <declanat_private> From: Monty Solomon <montyat_private> Subject: Spread of Buggy Software Raises Questions Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Spread of Buggy Software Raises Questions - Apr 27, 2003 01:23 PM (AP Online) By PETER SVENSSON AP Technology Writer NEW YORK (AP) -- When his dishwasher acts up and won't stop beeping, Jeff Seigle turns it off and then on, just as he does when his computer crashes. Same with the exercise machines at his gym and his CD player. "Now I think of resetting appliances, not just computers," says Seigle, a software developer in Vienna, Va. Malfunctions caused by bizarre and frustrating glitches are becoming harder and harder to escape now that software controls everything from stoves to cell phones, trains, cars and power plants. Yet computer code could be a lot more reliable _ if only the industry were more willing to make it so, experts say. And many believe it would help if software makers were held accountable for sloppy programming. Bad code can be more than costly. Sometimes it's lethal. _A poorly programmed ground-based altitude warning system was partly responsible for the 1997 Korean Air crash in Guam that killed 228 people. _Faulty software in anti-lock brakes forced the recall of 39,000 trucks and tractors and 6,000 school buses in 2000. _The $165 million Mars Polar Lander probe was destroyed in its final descent to the planet in 1999, probably because its software shut the engines off 100 feet above the surface. ... http://finance.lycos.com/home/news/story.asp?story=33972514 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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