Re: [d@DCC] Copyright Review - computer programs

From: "tOM Trottier" <Tom _-at-_ Abacurial.com>
To: General Discussion <discuss (at) digital-copyright.ca>
Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2003 16:48:37 -0400

There is another choice: make the claims accurate and specific. Then the 
rhetoric would be more muted, with caveats in just as big type as the claims.

tOM

On Sunday, October 19, 2003 at 14:35
Chris Palmer <discuss@digital-copyright.ca> wrote:

> Please ponder the consequences of what you are asking for.
> 
> a. Professional liability insurance would probably be requiired for all
> programmers.  This would eliminate the large pool of student and part time
> programmers, it would be illegal or dangerous for anyone without insurance
> to release a program or contribute to open source projects.
> 
> b. The various engineering societies would like to use this as a power
> grab - try calling yourself a "Software Engineer" in Canada unless you
> really are a P.Eng. Make software liability an issue and the engineering
> societies will lobby to make software engineering a registered profession
> like other engineering disciplines, and all software programs must be
> designed, managed, and or certified by a professional engineer.
> 
> c. Consider the cost of a Linux distribution if it had to include liability
> insurance for each program. Then who takes liability when someone modifies a
> program? The gnu/fsf  or some guy in Bulgaria?
> 
> d. In general, the big guys like Microsoft will thrive and the little guys
> will disappear.
> 
> Let sleeping dogs lie,  Tom.
> 
> Chris
> 
> > 4. Most software makers refuse to guarantee their software works correctly
> and
> > refuse to accept responsibility if it doesn't. This is unacceptable in a
> > consumer product. Software differs from books: it has a purpose.
> Manufacturers
> > should not be able to threaten others with the Copyright act on one hand
> and
> > yet be absolved when their product is faulty. When a product advertises
> certain
> > capabilities, the seller should be responsible for the capabilities
> working
> > properly.
> >
> > Software capability claims should be enforceable without limitation.

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