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

M$

[Maverick TimeSurfer]

Micro$ofts problem is that they forget the "and fix it later" part.

a language that forces good code?

[Smallest]

now there's something i'd like to see. maybe it could enforce algorithms, understand design specs and anticipate customer mind-changes, too.

i think the next version of C# is suppoed to do all of this, with some kind of XML voodoo scheisse.

-c

I couldn't read some paragraphs of the article...

[C A S S I E L]

...because of a bug in the JavaScript which prevented the menu selections from working. Clearly this wasn't tested properly.

Re:Alright...

[ranulf]

MSNBC points out that just one of Microsoft's poor design decisions has cost consumers $8.75 billion

Hmmm.. Ain't MSNBC owned by Microsoft? Talk about the left hand not knowing what the right is doing...

(Anyhow, I'm sure Windows has cost consumers a lot more than $8.75 million...)

Your Word For The Day...

[JLyle]

Software engineers know that their code is often riddled with lacunae, and they have long been searching for new technologies to prevent them.

From Dictionary.com:

lacuna n.pl. lacunae

1. An empty space or a missing part; a gap: "self-centered in opinion, with curious lacunae of astounding ignorance" (Frank Norris).
   
2. Anatomy. A cavity, space, or depression, especially in a bone, containing cartilage or bone cells.
   
   

SLASHDOT TO GO BANKRUPT!!

[egg troll]

In A.D. 2002

=>

Bankruptcy was beginning

00
00=>00
00

CmdrTaco: What happen ?
CowboyKneel: Somebody set up us the economy
CowboyKneel: We get financial report
CmdrTaco: What !
CowboyKneel: Main screen turn on
CmdrTaco: It's You !!
Creditor: How are you gentlemen !!
Creditor: All your linux server are belong to us
Creditor: You are on the way to chapter 11
CmdrTaco: What you say !!
Creditor: You have no chance to survive sell your stock
Creditor: HA HA HA HA ....
CowboyKneel: Taco!
CmdrTaco: Sell off every 'thing'
CmdrTaco: I know what I doing
CmdrTaco: Sell 'thing'

what poor design decision?

[AdamBa]

How was Code Red a "poor design decision" on Microsoft's part?

- adam

How to put any OS product on a "mature" timeline

[Bingo Foo]

#define LAG_JUSTIFICATION 6

while (OPEN_SOURCE_PRODUCT_VER >= COMMERCIAL_PRODUCT_VER)
{
OPEN_SOURCE_PRODUCT_VER /= LAG_JUSTIFICATION
}
printf("We're only at version %d, Just wait 'till we get to version %d", OPEN_SOURCE_PRODUCT_VER, COMMERCIAL_PRODUCT_VER);

Re:MSNBC

[Bingo Foo]

You apparently understand the karma cap much better than you understand the sig limit.

Sorry...

[Art_XIV]

I don't have the time for an intelligent comment on this...

One of our sales people promised that we'd have this project done for the end of June.

Magic Languages

[pyrrho]

If you don't buy Gates' ad-hocking promises of redemption there are other solutions, like creating a programming language that forces good code;

Or a better bet would to just find the Fountain of Youth so you can drink it's water, stay forever young, and then you'll have plenty of time to fix the bugs in the real languages.

Re:Software is bad because it's not a science

[gymbrall]

It's neither mass produced art nor is it artistic engineering nor is it special or inciteful. It's an ordinary product made by people who have to be extraordinary simply to overcome all of it's other failures. It's the dancing bear - interesting not because it dances so well but because it dances at all. It is a controlled crash.

I think I got something very similar to this in an email about how friends are friends forever or something....