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'The Year That Software Bugs Ate the World' (fastcompany.com)

Posted by msmash on from the year-of-bugs dept.

FastCompany's harrymcc writes: It's not like there's ever a year that isn't rife with stories about buggy software. But 2017 seems to have had an unusually rich supply of software flaws that fouled up major products -- from Twitter to iOS 11 to the Google Pixel 2 -- in ways that were very noticeable and sometimes even funny. Sample this: A nagging flaw in Google's Play Services software for Android causes Gmail to demand access to "body sensors" before it will let users send email. Android Police's Artem Russakovskii discovers that his Mini is recording audio 24/7 and storing it on Google's servers. I rounded up a bunch of them over at Fast Company.

5 of 95 comments (clear)

  1. We need to go back to basics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Programming in traditional programming languages instead of the latest fad language and framework. And develop in our own countries instead of outsourcing it.

    1. Re:We need to go back to basics by CastrTroy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What we really need are programmers who actually know what they are doing. The problem is that there really aren't enough programmers out there to get all the development projects done by knowledgeable programmers. It doesn't matter how much you pay them, the programmers simply don't exist.

      I think that the latest fad language and framework is actually just a symptom of the underlying problem. With a good enough tool set, you can fake your way through it for the most part and make it look like the system works from the outside. But you eventually hit a wall where the framework can't make up for the lack of skill of the developers, and this is where you run into problems.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    2. Re:We need to go back to basics by chill · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Why would they do that? They'll just address it in the next sprint! If you're agile enough, that is. Just add those bugs to the backlog! We've got features to ship!

      --
      Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  2. Will have to get worse before it gets better by gweihir · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The average person still does not care at all. Hence software can still get worse and even cheaper to make before it starts to cut into profits. And it will.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  3. More software, more bugs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Next year: Even more software, even more bugs.