Re: Software Liability

[Darren New <dnew@san.rr.com>]

Marin David Condic wrote:
> Well, not entirely. If software sellers were held liable, they'd have to
> start carrying liability insurance and that would cost something. Even with
> Ada technology, you're not guaranteed bug-free software, so there would
> still be liability cases. Depending on the lawyers and courts and juries,
> even the best engineered software could still be a source of liability.

There are also several *other* problems with software. One is that software
has subroutines. If you want to do something three times, you only write it
once. The difference in complexity between a 25-storey office building and a
30-storey office building is nowhere near as great as between a 25KLOC
program and a 30KLOC program. 

Another other problem, of course, is the use of software in areas where it
was never designed to be used. Nobody buys a toaster and tries to use it for
welding. People who buy a commuter car and then sue because it wouldn't go
offroad up the side of a mountain are doing something that a jury will
obviously be able to say is unreasonable. Someone who buys MSAccess and
tries to do big databases needing lots of concurrent access might be able to
get away with suing over its inability to handle that. Indeed, there have
been cases where the program worked as documented, the user didn't read the
documentation, made a bid based on the calculations, and sued when it came
out wrong because he ran the software incorrectly. He lost because of the
disclaimer. Or, need I say, the Ariene V problem...

Software is also expected to change much more than anything else. Nobody
would wait till you're on storey 15 of a 30-storey office building, then ask
"How much would it cost to make the lobby two storeys high?"

-- 
Darren New 
San Diego, CA, USA (PST). Cryptokeys on demand.
** http://home.san.rr.com/dnew/DNResume.html **
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