Why (Most) Software is so Bad

Rivard was one of several to point out that MSNBC says software sucks. My opinion is that in software fields where the monetary gap between market-leader and second-place is large, we should expect bad software. Good design, good execution, good debugging all take time, but users can't see under the hood -- and wherever information is scarce or not readily traded among consumers, the free market bogs down. (Note what the article says about McAfee VirusScan.) So companies that don't plan on releasing a crummy 1.0 and fixing it later go under. That's just the way some markets work; if you're a coder or engineer who doesn't like that, find yourself a job in a niche without that monetary gap. Anyway, the really stunning thing is that, of all the media outlets, MSNBC points out that just one of Microsoft's poor design decisions has cost consumers $8.75 billion, and wonders why nobody has sued. Update: 06/18 14:10 GMT by J : Readers point out the story is a reprint from Technology Review (one of the few good magazines I get -- but this issue hasn't arrived yet :).

Rivard continued his writeup with an interesting point of view, saying that while we all know software sucks, we just accept it:

"Even though 'plenty of reviewers, pundits, hackers and other outsiders' will point out problems, often intentionally left in the product, no one has brought a liability suit against the makers of the known-to-be-vitiated product -- because the software gestapo (the End User License Agreement) has been 'able to avoid product liability litigation partly because software licenses force customers into arbitration' of poorly designed pith.

"There is a light at the end of the tunnel, believe it or not, and it's Bill Gates. Microsoft suspended coding for two months to seminar on bugs and how to fix them. Gates told his employees he wanted to make 'reliable and secure' software Microsoft's 'highest priority.' If you don't buy Gates' ad-hocking promises of redemption there are other solutions, like creating a programming language that forces good code; going back to the days of intense peer-review, instead of relying on compilers; and intense planning, past the bungling paradigm of the bar napkin."

Comments

this article is...

[b_pretender]

a) Preaching to the choir.

b) Old news, I've read most of it elsewhere.

c) a thinly veiled Microsoft bashing coming from within.

d) fodder for Slashdot's editorial slant of objective stories.

Hey Jamie

[Anomolous Cow Herd]

You sure are one to be talking about other people's bad coding practices, aren't you? What with you being the maintainer of SlashCode, one of the ugliest programming projects I've ever had the displeasure to read through, it's only appropriate, I suppose.

I mean honestly, I've seen some of the potheads in my freshman CS courses write more coherent code than that. If you had been taking my class, I would have failed you.

This is a flamebait

[WildBeast]

Go ahead, remove my karma points, I don't care. I've had enough already of those idiots who keep wanting to sue everyone for anything. And if MS will actually concentrate more on security and stability instead of features and fun, then I'll go get myself a Mac. I prefer using a somewhat buggy Windows 2000 instead of a perfectly stable and secure Windows 3.1.

Besides, no software is perfectly secure. Perhaps they should concentrate more on suing the crackers.

Reminds me of how moronic some people are

[sheldon]

First, out of curiousity... Did you bother to think about this a bit? Maybe try to understand exactly what might have happened based on your wealth of experience on computer system design?

Did you consider that they probably were talking about the custom database software and not the OS itself? Or do you complain that the Internet is down whenever your modem fails to dial out?

http://www.gcn.com/archives/gcn/1998/november9/6 .h tm

"Human error, not Microsoft Windows NT, was the cause of a LAN failure aboard the Aegis cruiser USS Yorktown that left the Smart Ship dead in the water for nearly three hours last fall during maneuvers near Cape Charles, Va., Navy officials said."

There's been numerous articles released over the years that all point to CAE Electronics custom software being at fault, yet for some dumb reason morons keep posting this old tale and claiming Microsoft was somehow at fault.