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When Computers Go Wrong

Posted by samzenpus on from the best-of-intentions dept.

Barence writes "PC Pro's Stewart Mitchell has charted the world's ten most calamitous computer cock-ups. They include the Russians' stealing software that resulted in their gas pipeline exploding, the Mars Orbiter that went missing because the programmers got their imperial and metric measurements mixed up, the Soviet early-warning system that confused the sun for a missile and almost triggered World War III, plus the Windows anti-piracy measure that resulted in millions of legitimate customers being branded software thieves."

2 of 250 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Computers do what they are told to by DarkKnightRadick · · Score: -1, Redundant

    agreed

    --
    "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." Proverbs 16:25 (NKJV)
  2. They left out Therac-25 by KenSeymour · · Score: -1, Redundant

    I think Therac-25 should have made the list.

    A race condition in software caused the radiation does delivered to be 100 time too big. It occurred when an unanticipated order of keystrokes were typed very fast. Other poor design choices helped to hide the problem.

    Here is a more detailed history.

    --
    "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." -- Albert Einstein