5 ms·

> Something needs to be done, and I've found that small, commonsense habits can go a long way towards that. I agree, but I would like to give you an idea about

> Something needs to be done, and I've found that small, commonsense habits can go a long way towards that. I agree, but I would like to give you an idea about what could be done: sell liability protection. This is something I am working on doing, so it's not entirely coming out of thin air. The idea is this: I am writing software to be Quality from the start. Obviously, it will be FOSS. Now, I could go the route of selling "support" (i.e., bribes to get bug fixes), but I don't like that because it incentivizes putting off fixing bugs until a customer runs into them because that will "convince" the customer that they need support. [1] Instead, with selling liability protection, including for outages, I have an incentive to make sure the customer does not run into bugs. And it doesn't matter if Amazon or some other big company starts selling my software as a service because my software is not my product. Of course, creating a quality piece of software relies on a process, as you said. My current process is at [2]. [1]: https://gavinhoward.com/2020/08/the-software-industry-is-broken/ https://gavinhoward.com/2020/08/the-software-industry-is-bro... [2]: https://gavinhoward.com/uploads/process.md https://gavinhoward.com/uploads/process.md

ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
That’s not a bad idea. You already have basic E&O, but that is kind of a “broad brush.” > Obviously, it will be FOSS That could cost you customers. I know the corporation that I worked at, would never agree to it. They were quite tinfoil about IP. They owned a ginormous patent portfolio, and were quite secretive in their processes. They would insist on keeping the source completely proprietary. I know that you are basically selling a personal guarantee, which is an idea I could stand behind, but that is still an individual attribute, as opposed to a standard industry one. It could be a potential personal selling point, and a competitive advantage. The real goad would be an industry-wide need for it. Basically, established precedent for suing developers (and distributors) of bad software. That’s a pretty classic Damoclean sword. Lots of claymores, buried, there.
- ghoward 5y ago
  > That’s not a bad idea. You already have basic E&O, but that is kind of a “broad brush.” I feel dumb, but could you tell me what "E&O" means? > That could cost you customers. I know the corporation that I worked at, would never agree to it. They were quite tinfoil about IP. They owned a ginormous patent portfolio, and were quite secretive in their processes. They would insist on keeping the source completely proprietary. Yeah, I thought that might be the case. I'm okay with that. The FOSS part is because I don't believe that customers should be in be dark about anything regarding my software. It would be like an architect not giving the plans to a building to the customer. Not professional, in my opinion. Of course, to satisfy customers like the ones you mentioned, I could just give them the source. I guess this is one point where my personal preference overrides because I believe in FOSS. To satisfy customers like that, however, maybe it would be enough if no one knows they are a customer of mine? No idea. Anyway, I'm okay with losing customers like that; I don't think I would need many customers to pay the bills. > I know that you are basically selling a personal guarantee, which is an idea I could stand behind, but that is still an individual attribute, as opposed to a standard industry one. It could be a potential personal selling point, and a competitive advantage. > The real goad would be an industry-wide need for it. Basically, established precedent for suing developers (and distributors) of bad software. > That’s a pretty classic Damoclean sword. Lots of claymores, buried, there. I agree that it needs to be an industry-wide thing. I hate the fact that EULA's basically disclaim all liability. (I'm okay with FOSS software disclaiming all liability because they don't know who is using their software, and it might just be a weekend project. Actually, my FOSS licenses disclaim liability too, so customers would actually be paying for me claiming that liability again.) But here's my hope: I hope that by doing this, and gaining a competitive advantage with it, other companies would either start to ask for it, or demand it, from their vendors, or start to do it for their software to gain a competitive advantage. In other words, I hope that I can get the ball started rolling towards becoming an industry standard. That's partly why I wrote my process down in such detail: so the industry could start to converge on standard processes like the engineering world. (Don't get me started on Agile or any of the other current "industry standard practices." Their foci are in entirely the wrong place, in my opinion.) Edit: Anyway, you're right: lots of claymores there. I need to carefully define the limits of my liability with a lawyer.
  - 5y ago

ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago

That’s not a bad idea. You already have basic E&O, but that is kind of a “broad brush.” > Obviously, it will be FOSS That could cost you customers. I know the corporation that I worked at, would never agree to it. They were quite tinfoil about IP. They owned a ginormous patent portfolio, and were quite secretive in their processes. They would insist on keeping the source completely proprietary. I know that you are basically selling a personal guarantee, which is an idea I could stand behind, but that is still an individual attribute, as opposed to a standard industry one. It could be a potential personal selling point, and a competitive advantage. The real goad would be an industry-wide need for it. Basically, established precedent for suing developers (and distributors) of bad software. That’s a pretty classic Damoclean sword. Lots of claymores, buried, there.

ghoward 5y ago
> That’s not a bad idea. You already have basic E&O, but that is kind of a “broad brush.” I feel dumb, but could you tell me what "E&O" means? > That could cost you customers. I know the corporation that I worked at, would never agree to it. They were quite tinfoil about IP. They owned a ginormous patent portfolio, and were quite secretive in their processes. They would insist on keeping the source completely proprietary. Yeah, I thought that might be the case. I'm okay with that. The FOSS part is because I don't believe that customers should be in be dark about anything regarding my software. It would be like an architect not giving the plans to a building to the customer. Not professional, in my opinion. Of course, to satisfy customers like the ones you mentioned, I could just give them the source. I guess this is one point where my personal preference overrides because I believe in FOSS. To satisfy customers like that, however, maybe it would be enough if no one knows they are a customer of mine? No idea. Anyway, I'm okay with losing customers like that; I don't think I would need many customers to pay the bills. > I know that you are basically selling a personal guarantee, which is an idea I could stand behind, but that is still an individual attribute, as opposed to a standard industry one. It could be a potential personal selling point, and a competitive advantage. > The real goad would be an industry-wide need for it. Basically, established precedent for suing developers (and distributors) of bad software. > That’s a pretty classic Damoclean sword. Lots of claymores, buried, there. I agree that it needs to be an industry-wide thing. I hate the fact that EULA's basically disclaim all liability. (I'm okay with FOSS software disclaiming all liability because they don't know who is using their software, and it might just be a weekend project. Actually, my FOSS licenses disclaim liability too, so customers would actually be paying for me claiming that liability again.) But here's my hope: I hope that by doing this, and gaining a competitive advantage with it, other companies would either start to ask for it, or demand it, from their vendors, or start to do it for their software to gain a competitive advantage. In other words, I hope that I can get the ball started rolling towards becoming an industry standard. That's partly why I wrote my process down in such detail: so the industry could start to converge on standard processes like the engineering world. (Don't get me started on Agile or any of the other current "industry standard practices." Their foci are in entirely the wrong place, in my opinion.) Edit: Anyway, you're right: lots of claymores there. I need to carefully define the limits of my liability with a lawyer.
- 5y ago