🚀 go-pugleaf

David Damerell <damerell@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
> <msissom@dnaent.com> wrote:
>>Nonsense, without even resorting to legalsleaze hair splitting, there
>>are faults in every product available on every market. You expect a
>>perfect product from one particular industry even though you happily
>>accept imperfection in every other product that you purchase.

> This is not even remotely true. If I buy screwdrivers, I expect them to be
> 'of satisfactory quality' and 'fit for their purpose' [1]; they should be
> able to screw screws of sensible sizes, and made of a material that won't
> break in use, and if they're not, I'll complain.

> You may argue that screwdrivers are simple. If I buy a router from a 
> reputable manufacturer (Cisco, say), which is a complex piece of
> equipment running complex software, I expect it to work. If there are any
> bugs in the firmware - and because they are complex, router bugs appear
> about twice a year [3] - I expect them to get fixed, and if they don't, I
> shall insist on replacement or a refund (during the warranty period.)

N.B. A Warrantee and statutory rights are different issues.

> The GNU utilities have an extremely high reliability; AFAIK, about as high
> a reliability as any software of comparable complexity ever. That
> demonstrates a standard which _can_ be reached by software developers
> without a milspec budget and testing procedure [2]; it's not an impossible
> expectation that software should be that good.

> [1] Quoting the UK Supply and Sale of Goods Act 1994, if anyone wants to
> suggest this is not legally practical.

> [2] USS Yorktown aside. :-) If we ever go to war with the 'merkins, I'm

The USS Yorktown appears to be an example of what happens when MS sell
their product to admirals in their normal way. Just that it's a whole
lot more dangerous to put an unreliable computer system on a warship
than in an office block.

> going to suggest pointing 'fuzz' at their radar arrays and see if their
> ships all stop moving.

What if the Serbians get the same idea :)