Calling Software Reliability Into Question

phillymjs writes "CNN is running a story on software reliability, and how the lack of it may cost more and more lives as technology creeps further into everyday products. It appears a debate is finally starting amongst everyday (read: non-geek) people about vendor liability for buggy software. Some opponents of the liability push are unsurprising: Says the story, 'Microsoft contends that setting [reliability] standards could stifle innovation, and the cost of litigation and damages could mean more expensive software.' The article also says, however, that consumers' favortism of flashy products over reliable ones is partly to blame for the current state of software."

Comments

It's a vicious circle

[Ed Avis]

The trouble is, the more accustomed users become to bugs, the harder it is to get them reported and fixed. If my computer crashes, I just reset it and get back to work. I don't bother to investigate what caused the bug, to try to reproduce it, to contact the vendor (hah!) and try to work out the problem. Crashes occur much too frequently for that.

OTOH, if computers were reliable enough to crash only once every few years, then users might report every crash that happens, the vendor can diagnose it, and fix the bug or family-of-bugs so that it never happens again. This is roughly what happens when a mainframe crashes, I believe - it's a big event.

Imagine if when your microwave crashed, you could call some hotline, they would come and replace the microwave and take away the old one for analysis. Instead, even on complex software systems the standard first resort for the help line is 'reboot and see if it goes away'.

Re:It's a vicious circle

[sasami]

The trouble is, the more accustomed users become to bugs, the harder it is to get them reported and fixed.

This is absolutely and shockingly true. Microsoft is almost singlehandedly responsible for the widespread cultural mentality that faulty software is okay.

You'll find this notion all over the place but the worst part is seeing it in the upcoming generation. I work with teenagers, bright kids who are totally immersed in technology. Yet almost none of them understand why I complain about Windows all the time. If I tell them that a real OS doesn't crash and is not permitted to crash... they laugh -- or glare -- and say, you're crazy.

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Dum de dum.