From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,6b24e52e7dcae753 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2002-07-03 08:53:29 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed1.cidera.com!Cidera!cyclone.socal.rr.com!cyclone3.kc.rr.com!news3.kc.rr.com!twister.socal.rr.com.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: <3D231E17.97B4F695@san.rr.com> From: Darren New X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.77 [en] (Windows NT 5.0; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Software Liability References: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Wed, 03 Jul 2002 15:53:28 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 66.75.151.160 X-Complaints-To: abuse@rr.com X-Trace: twister.socal.rr.com 1025711608 66.75.151.160 (Wed, 03 Jul 2002 08:53:28 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 03 Jul 2002 08:53:28 PDT Organization: RoadRunner - West Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:26848 Date: 2002-07-03T15:53:28+00:00 List-Id: 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 ** ** http://images.fbrtech.com/dnew/ ** Proud to live in a country where "fashionable" is denim, "stone-washed" faded, with rips.