U.S. Businesses Lost Nearly $100b Due To Defective Software

U.S. Businesses Lost Nearly $100b Due To Defective Software

[Marin David Condic]

Just looking at the July issue of "Communications of the ACM" and notice a
little news-blurb that claims that US businesses lost $100 billion due to
defective software code in 2000. Some of the examples they cite include eBay
shutting down due to flawed Sun code and Nike losing $100m because of supply
chain management code being flawed.

Naturally none of the information is specific enough to claim that "If only
everyone would use Ada..." but I think it adds a piece of evidence to cite
in arguing the case for Ada. $100 billion is starting to look like real
money and if Ada could reduce error rates by - say 10% - well, you can do
the math. I'd be glad to take it and retire. :-)

MDC
--
Marin David Condic
Senior Software Engineer
Pace Micro Technology Americas    www.pacemicro.com
Enabling the digital revolution
e-Mail:    marin.condic@pacemicro.com
Web:      http://www.mcondic.com/

U.S. Businesses Lost Nearly 434 $ each ( was 100 billion dollars )

[raj]

On Tue, 10 Jul 2001 09:35:25 -0400, "Marin David Condic"
<marin.condic.auntie.spam@pacemicro.com> wrote:

>Just looking at the July issue of "Communications of the ACM" and notice a
>little news-blurb that claims that US businesses lost $100 billion due to
>defective software code in 2000. Some of the examples they cite include eBay
>shutting down due to flawed Sun code and Nike losing $100m because of supply
>chain management code being flawed.
>

Let us assume that the figure is inflated by a factor of 10. ( Not
unusual in an industry specific magazine )
Let us divide it by the 23 million business  income tax returns filed
in 1998 in the US that gives us 434 $.

And Ada is going to solve THAT problem ?
What problem.....
We spend more than that on coffee for our staff !

Software related monetary losses exagerated

[raj]

On Tue, 10 Jul 2001 09:35:25 -0400, "Marin David Condic"
<marin.condic.auntie.spam@pacemicro.com> wrote:

>Just looking at the July issue of "Communications of the ACM" and notice a
>little news-blurb that claims that US businesses lost $100 billion due to
>defective software code in 2000. Some of the examples they cite include eBay
>shutting down due to flawed Sun code and Nike losing $100m because of supply
>chain management code being flawed.
>

Let us assume that the figure is inflated by a factor of 10. ( Not
unusual in an industry specific magazine )
Let us divide it by the 23 million business  income tax returns filed
in 1998 in the US that gives us 434 $.

And Ada is going to solve THAT problem ?
What problem.....
We spend more than that on coffee for our staff !

Re: U.S. Businesses Lost Nearly 434 $ each ( was 100 billion dollars )

[David C. Hoos, Sr.]

According to my arithmetic $100,000,000,000 / 23,000,000 = $4347.83

----- Original Message -----
From: "raj" <israelrt@optushome.com.au>
Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada
To: <comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org>
Sent: July 10, 2001 6:45 PM
Subject: U.S. Businesses Lost Nearly 434 $ each ( was 100 billion dollars )


> On Tue, 10 Jul 2001 09:35:25 -0400, "Marin David Condic"
> <marin.condic.auntie.spam@pacemicro.com> wrote:
>
> >Just looking at the July issue of "Communications of the ACM" and notice a
> >little news-blurb that claims that US businesses lost $100 billion due to
> >defective software code in 2000. Some of the examples they cite include
eBay
> >shutting down due to flawed Sun code and Nike losing $100m because of
supply
> >chain management code being flawed.
> >
>
> Let us assume that the figure is inflated by a factor of 10. ( Not
> unusual in an industry specific magazine )
> Let us divide it by the 23 million business  income tax returns filed
> in 1998 in the US that gives us 434 $.
>
> And Ada is going to solve THAT problem ?
> What problem.....
> We spend more than that on coffee for our staff !
> _______________________________________________
> comp.lang.ada mailing list
> comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org
> http://ada.eu.org/mailman/listinfo/comp.lang.ada
>

Re: U.S. Businesses Lost Nearly 434 $ each ( was 100 billion dollars )

[Marin David Condic]

One can always dispute the numbers. Its hard to analyze this without access
to the data. However, its the same sort of thing as "Lost Days Of Work From
Back Injuries". It adds a cost to everything just like a sales tax. If a
nation can find a way to reduce that, it makes its production apparatus more
efficient and hence increases wealth as well as making its goods more
competitive overseas.

I recall encountering a study by someone at Harvard Business School that
tried to assess the impact of $$$ into computers vs $$$ out of a business.
Apparently, there is no indication that an investment in computers actually
increases profits. That doesn't necessarily mean that we shouldn't do it -
perhaps its just the cost of staying in business. The guys who do are the
ones that survive. Maybe the same argument goes for reducing bugs in
software...

MDC
--
Marin David Condic
Senior Software Engineer
Pace Micro Technology Americas    www.pacemicro.com
Enabling the digital revolution
e-Mail:    marin.condic@pacemicro.com
Web:      http://www.mcondic.com/


"raj" <israelrt@optushome.com.au> wrote in message
news:pf4nkt8kcuhvgar3c3oi4jep83plehj79l@4ax.com...
>
> Let us assume that the figure is inflated by a factor of 10. ( Not
> unusual in an industry specific magazine )
> Let us divide it by the 23 million business  income tax returns filed
> in 1998 in the US that gives us 434 $.
>
> And Ada is going to solve THAT problem ?
> What problem.....
> We spend more than that on coffee for our staff !

Re: U.S. Businesses Lost Nearly 434 $ each ( was 100 billion dollars )

[Mike Silva]

raj <israelrt@optushome.com.au> wrote in message news:<pf4nkt8kcuhvgar3c3oi4jep83plehj79l@4ax.com>...
> On Tue, 10 Jul 2001 09:35:25 -0400, "Marin David Condic"
> <marin.condic.auntie.spam@pacemicro.com> wrote:
> 
> >Just looking at the July issue of "Communications of the ACM" and notice a
> >little news-blurb that claims that US businesses lost $100 billion due to
> >defective software code in 2000. Some of the examples they cite include eBay
> >shutting down due to flawed Sun code and Nike losing $100m because of supply
> >chain management code being flawed.
> >
> 
> Let us assume that the figure is inflated by a factor of 10. ( Not
> unusual in an industry specific magazine )
> Let us divide it by the 23 million business  income tax returns filed
> in 1998 in the US that gives us 434 $.
> 
> And Ada is going to solve THAT problem ?
> What problem.....
> We spend more than that on coffee for our staff !

Hey, I've got an idea: let's assume that the figure is deflated by a
factor of 10 (to make the industry look better than it really is). 
That works out to $43,478 per business.

Next assumption...

Re: U.S. Businesses Lost Nearly 434 $ each ( was 100 billion dollars )

[Marin David Condic]

I *like* that approach! Rectal extraction of whatever numbers suit your
case. So let's assume that the $100b number was really $500b and that there
are really only twelve businesses that actually use software for anything
critical. What does it work out to now? :-) :-) :-)

Seriously: The point should be that whatever the number works out to on a
per-business basis is really irrelevant. If the $100b number is anywhere
near reality, that is a lot of national resources being dedicated to
non-productive effort. Its a kind of a tax on everything we do and for which
we get nothing. If Ada could help reduce that number, we as a nation are
better off.

MDC
--
Marin David Condic
Senior Software Engineer
Pace Micro Technology Americas    www.pacemicro.com
Enabling the digital revolution
e-Mail:    marin.condic@pacemicro.com
Web:      http://www.mcondic.com/


"Mike Silva" <mjsilva@jps.net> wrote in message
news:5267be60.0107111635.4e9e5d3b@posting.google.com...
>
> Hey, I've got an idea: let's assume that the figure is deflated by a
> factor of 10 (to make the industry look better than it really is).
> That works out to $43,478 per business.
>
> Next assumption...