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NIST Estimates Sloppy Coding Costs $60 Billion/Year

Posted by timothy on from the numerical-imperative dept.

An anonymous reader submits: "Computerworld is reporting on a government study just released that software bugs are costing the U.S. economy an estimated $59.5 billion each year, with more than half of the cost borne by end users and the remainder by developers and vendors. Better testing could allegedly cut that by one-third."

1 of 336 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Costing the U.S. economy? by anthony_dipierro · · Score: 1, Redundant

    That's like saying vandalism helps the economy.

    That's as true as saying it hurts it.

    However, if he hadn't thrown the brick, the grocer would have both a window and $100, which he would spend on something that actually did help the economy

    So at the very least then the GDP would break even. But what if instead of spending the $100, the grocer lowers prices in the store. Now you not only have $100 less going to the windowmaker (who would have used it to buy something), but you also have lower sales for the store. So you've cost the GDP twice (admittedly, you've also caused deflation, so the inflation-adjusted GDP hasn't changed).

    My point is not the software bugs are a good thing. It's that the statement that they cost the economy $60 billion is meaningless.