🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <i1tb1f$9k1$2@news.eternal-september.org>,
 sfdavidkaye2@yahoo.com (David Kaye) wrote:

> Such "particular purpose" disclaimers are designed to absolve liability if 
> the 
> software is used for something totally different.  An example of a disclaimed 
> use is a car tire being tied by rope from a tree and used as a swing.  It is 
> not reasonable to expect the tire company to guarantee that the tire would 
> make a good swing unless it were sold as a swing.  

I don't think that's what the Navy was doing.

> A "reasonable" person has the right to expect good performance from an 
> operating system.  Windows is not an open-source Linux put together by 
> volunteers.  If it were, then a "reasonable" person wouldn't have a prayer if 
> Linux broke down.  

In the mid-nineties I moved from the Windows platform to the Linux 
platform. The result was infinitely more capable software (the mature 
multi-tasking platform provides far more help to the application than 
Windows), which was much more stable. If I had Linux questions, there 
was a whole network of people who could help. Windows "help" was useless 
if a non-mass market application was involved. If you hinted you were a 
developer, you were invited to pay big money for developers' support.

> There may have been some, but I can't think of any lawsuits brought against 
> Microsoft for failure in mission-critical situations.  Likewise, I can't 
> think 
> of anyone suing Apple for this, either.  

What would be the point? It would be some lowly user against all of 
their experts. Software, including operating systems, comprise a "best 
effort" climate. No one, not even (or maybe even especially) Microsoft 
can anticipate all applications that can be written on their platforms. 
End of case.

> I've mentioned before of scenarios in which Windows has been running for 300+ 
> days, the equivalent of Linux and Unix uptimes.  

No dispute there. I, too, have discovered that Windows systems doing 
nothing or close to it can run indefinitely. My service bureau machines 
were a different matter, requiring reboots every other week. When I went 
to Linux, it was never necessary to reboot a machine. Both ran my 
software.

-- 
John Higdon
+1 408 ANdrews 6-4400
AT&T-Free At Last