First of all, software consumers are in most cases (not all I admit) much savvier about their purchases than your average consumer headed down to the box store to buy a new toaster. There is a plethora of information available about the quality of software releases, including software reviews online and in print and support forums that often give the pulse of a broad range of user's experiences. I for one do not rush out and buy the first release of any new program or video game on release day, with the exception of some publishers of PC software that have shown to have a good track record of making timely updates when bugs are discovered in their software. I think that some sort of regulation as discussed here will limit the number of deep, creative games in the market because people will spend so much time on QA out of fear of a government backlash. We will end up with a large number of high quality, yet boring and unintuitive programs.
Slashdot Mirror
First of all, software consumers are in most cases (not all I admit) much savvier about their purchases than your average consumer headed down to the box store to buy a new toaster. There is a plethora of information available about the quality of software releases, including software reviews online and in print and support forums that often give the pulse of a broad range of user's experiences. I for one do not rush out and buy the first release of any new program or video game on release day, with the exception of some publishers of PC software that have shown to have a good track record of making timely updates when bugs are discovered in their software. I think that some sort of regulation as discussed here will limit the number of deep, creative games in the market because people will spend so much time on QA out of fear of a government backlash. We will end up with a large number of high quality, yet boring and unintuitive programs.