Bugs in software, *HUGE* ones ... idiot programmers and middle management jerkoffs

By Sam the cat

Swipe! <Ed walks out of the room limping> Ahhh, that's better.

He was pissing me off. I've been to using a 
new version of Fractal Design's Painter 
product (V3.1) and I just don't get it. 

How can these companies do it? I've 
had so many GPF's from the bloody thing, 
that I'm now de-installing it. It's a shame 
cause it has all these really cool new 
features targeted at Internet publishing 
so I can bitch to a world audience. 




Ok, so it was a free download from the Fractal site, 
but come on guys! If you offer something to your customers, 
it should bloody well work. And they're not the only ones, if it's one 
thing that really gets up my left nostril, it's buggy software. 
There's so much of it around these days that people just accept it 
as the norm - bull!

Would you buy a car if the stereo didn't work ? Or were told 
that the wheels might or might not fall off ? ... I don't think so. 
So why do these software house continue to expect us as 
consumers to keep buying their software when they keep releasing it 
with bugs, and not just a few, *LOTS OF BUGS*. I've seen 
software put on the streets with over 200 known bugs in it. 

And that's only the bugs known by the authors. Furring disgusting. 
If GM stuck a car on the street with that many known problems, 
they would be in the supreme court by lunch time. Now I know 
what you programmers out there are saying, software is often very 
complex and difficult to debug. Well, let me tell you, I've 
written a fair amount of code and quite frankly I'm no better than you, 
i.e. I've written buggy code as well. But by the same token, with the 
resources most software houses have I don't think that there 
should be the level of bugs we are seeing. I'm not just 
clawing on about small bugs, I mean Ginormous huge, drive 
your new VFR through it type bugs. 

Why is this, doesn't the idiot programmer know that he should 
make sure the loop control cannot get out of wack ? 
Is he too lazy to bother ? 
Does he think someone else will fix it ? 
Or is it the greatest evil of all - management, putting 
ridiculous time constraints on the programming teams ?

Personally, I've clawed a few managers in my time over 
these sorts of issues, so I'll vote for the last reason. 
Most managers are basically jerks. They just think it's always the 
other managers who are the problem. Meanwhile you and I, 
poor, innocent and trusting are continuing to spend our hard 
earned money on products that in any other field would have a 
national enquiry going. 

Well I say lets start putting a stop to it ! 
If you get a bug that causes a piece of software to go skitzo or 
hang your system from the rafters, then I say, get onto the manufacturer. 
Let them know you're not happy. Even, dare I say it, ask for your money back. 
Why should you pay for something that doesn't work ????