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Some industries have decided that software really does matter, and go to greater lengths to make sure it works. It'd be annoying if Things for iOS crashed and
by tjr 12y ago
Some industries have decided that software really does matter, and go to greater lengths to make sure it works.
It'd be annoying if Things for iOS crashed and lost all of my data. It'd be horrifying if flight control software crashed and all aboard a plane were killed. It stands to reason that some software is and should be held to higher standards than other software. It probably doesn't make sense that all software should be held to the same high standard, as it is extremely time- and resource-consuming to ship avionics software. Do folks really want to dish out a few $thousand for a copy of Things for iOS?
And some companies do already take responsibility for open source software. In aerospace development, we routinely use GNU software that has been thoroughly inspected and certified as good by companies that accept many thousands of dollars to stand behind it. (Of course, if we were to upgrade from their GNU Foo 2.1.0 to the FSF's copy of GNU Foo 2.2.0, then all bets are off.)