On Mon, 22 Aug 2005, Gerhard Fiedler wrote:

> Peter wrote:
>
>>> Software doesn't usually wear out (y2k notwithstanding) but it can fail
>>> to cope with new situations ...
>>
>> Software wears out because there is a market pressure driving hardware
>> upgrades (including in domains where this is not mandated).
>
> The major problem with software IMO is not that it wears out, but that it
> doesn't work as advertised in the first place.

As it can't, since the buyer's requirements are 'make it work like the 
other guy's' (inluding bugs which they often perceive as features), 'I 
like the animation, it's so cool', 'can I use it on my $500 Windows 
computer ?' and so forth. And in fact it does work as *advertised*. The 
screen resembles the screenshots on the website, and interaction with 
the limited set of external applications against which it was tested 
does in fact occur, and was likely debugged to some extent.

Peter
-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist