I am a programmer and software provides my living. But I disagree with your statements and your attitude. My company produces quality software that we put through rigorous testing to ensure it meets standards. We charge more for a single package than I make in a year. We also guarentee that it will perform as expected and we fix "ANY" bugs that are discovered. Our licensing makes us legally responsible for our software and it's function.

You are correct, it is hard to write a million lines of code that is flawless. But, it is even harder to design a car with thousands of parts, that interact with forces that cannot be fully modeled (can you come up with a perfect model for friction?).

Taking Dave's analogy (that you dislike so much) what would you rather do? Drive a car that the manufacturer is legally responsible for making safe. Or, ride in that car while it is being driven by software that the author sold you for $300 but doesn't take any responsibility for his code. Of course you have a choice and that makes a difference, but what if your car was only software driven? If you had to ride in that car I think you would change your tune.

Looking at the application of the software, and how bad software can cause damage (physical and financial) is what really makes the issue.


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