3 ms·

Good response to some points by the sibling. I was going to respond that part of the reason is just that the cost of software is mentally anchored very low for

Good response to some points by the sibling. I was going to respond that part of the reason is just that the cost of software is mentally anchored very low for people. Right now Windows 11 Pro license is shown to me as $199, which is enough to pay someone for around 27 hours of minimum wage in the US. Assuming you pay someone closer to $40 per hour, it would be almost 5 hours. Some random Internet websites tell me that typical auto repairs are between $300 and $500. Cannot 100% vouch for these numbers, but it seems to me that the idea is not as outright ridiculous as you're trying to suggest, if we allow for tweaking economic incentives here and there. To be clear, I am evaluating this as a hypothetical scenario, not a project I am specifically endorsing. Of course the current situation with consumers getting software for "free" and software developers getting fat FTE paychecks is some sort of a local maximum that would be hard to give up for both groups. But then the grandma that wants you to fix her email client won't be putting you through some ridiculous whiteboard/hackerrank interviews, so there is that. Bugs are mostly solvable with time, tools and attention, not genius.

simiones 3y ago
I was thinking about this some more, and realized also that comparing bugfixing in software to car repairs is a false comparison. When repairing a car, the work is about identifying the ways it differs from the original design, and fixing those (typically by swapping out broken pieces for identical working ones, or cleaning out gunk). But repairing a bug is not similar to that. It is instead about identifying what is wrong in the original design itself, and how to change the design to eliminate this flaw while not introducing others. This is not like replacing a cracked exhaust pipe, it's like figuring out that the engine isn't getting enough power because the shape of the exhaust isn't appropriate, figuring out the better shape that also fits in the existing fittings, casting a new exhaust with that shape, and then installing it, and making sure you haven't broken some other property. That is all going to cost a heck of a lot more than the typical car repair, and is going to be well beyond what the majority of shops can do. Interestingly, these kinds of services do exist to some extent (the "pimp my ride" style), but they are far fewer and more expensive than car repairs, and few people have ever used one.

simiones 3y ago

I was thinking about this some more, and realized also that comparing bugfixing in software to car repairs is a false comparison. When repairing a car, the work is about identifying the ways it differs from the original design, and fixing those (typically by swapping out broken pieces for identical working ones, or cleaning out gunk). But repairing a bug is not similar to that. It is instead about identifying what is wrong in the original design itself, and how to change the design to eliminate this flaw while not introducing others. This is not like replacing a cracked exhaust pipe, it's like figuring out that the engine isn't getting enough power because the shape of the exhaust isn't appropriate, figuring out the better shape that also fits in the existing fittings, casting a new exhaust with that shape, and then installing it, and making sure you haven't broken some other property. That is all going to cost a heck of a lot more than the typical car repair, and is going to be well beyond what the majority of shops can do. Interestingly, these kinds of services do exist to some extent (the "pimp my ride" style), but they are far fewer and more expensive than car repairs, and few people have ever used one.