The Software Conspiracy: Why Software Companies Put Out Faulty Products How They Can Hurt You and What You Can Do About It

ISBN 10: 0071365540 ISBN 13: 9780071365543

Synopsis

Minasi believes it's time to get mad at the industry that allows such things to happen. From his unique vantage point, he delivers an incisive and highly readable expose that calls computer makers and consumers to account. He reveals how companies inexcusably get away with thumbing their nose at quality, and tells what all of us can do to stop it.

About this title

Review

The Software Conspiracy makes the point that software, shrink-wrapped software in particular, has more bugs than it should have and that fact is costing us lives and money. Minasi illustrates this point with examples given at the beginning of the chapters, which are very engaging, interesting and often quite saddening. In the Gulf War, for example, 28 soldiers died because Patriot guidance software stopped working properly after 14 hours of continuous use. A chapter on "Software and the Law" gives an excellent and informed, if American- focused, view of the UCITA, and how this could destroy the American software industry, and "Bugs and Country: Software Economics" explains how the decline of the software industry could affect the US's trade deficit.

At times Minasi seems to be struggling for material--as when he devotes several pages to explaining what a trade deficit is and needlessly repeats the book's main point over and over. Still, while some may disagree with Minasi's argument, it's an important argument to consider. Everyone uses software, whether in clocks, cookers, calculators or personal computers, and the future of the software industry affects us all.--Josh Smith

Edition details

• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0071365540
• ISBN 13: 9780071365543
• Binding: Unbound