European Union Wants Companies Liable for Software

You know I hate the idea of the European Union a little more every day…

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,39649689,00.htm

They have another idea that should not be. They want to hold companies and, in the case of open source applications, programmers liable for defects in their code.

To somebody outside of the software industry this may sound like a good idea. Who hasn’t been bitten by a software bug and wanted to unleash their wrath upon the coders? But as a coder myself I can tell you this, programming is hard.

More specifically parts of programming are hard. Getting an application up and running and then getting it to do basic tasks is pretty simple. The problem comes when you want to make those basic tasks reliable.

The damnedest things can cause a bug in an application. Forgetting to terminate a string in a null character in C for instance can lead to worlds of hurt. Sometimes when your application calls on outside code that outside code will cause an unforeseen but in your own code. The bottom line is trying to foresee all possible bugs and mishaps is impossible. This desire of the European Union would create a liability for software companies in that part of the world and probably cause them to move elsewhere. Maybe somewhere that isn’t trying to make life as hard as possible for businesses.

So How is Obama and Friends Change?

Although I know the majority of people on my friends list will probably want me hanged for the title alone take a good look at this…

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/04/should-obama-control-internet

A new piece of legislation dubbed The Cybersecurity Act of 2009 is trying to establish control over the Internet for Obama. In a very Bush era bill this proposal would allow the president “to declare a cyber security emergency” at which point he could order the shutdown or restriction of any “critical” information network such as the Internet.

And of course just as Bush this bill is being proposed in the name of “national security.” So somebody explain to me how this is “change” from the last administration.

Wow Fuck You IBM, FUCK YOU!

I was never a fan of IBM to begin with but this latest story just makes makes me realize how horrible their top brass are…

http://infotech.indiatimes.com/News/IBM_to_laid-off_staff_Go_to_India/articleshow/4085361.cms

So after laying off a chunk of their workforce they decided to make an “innovative” (their words not mine) offer to some of their employees.

They would be allowed to keep their jobs if they were willing to move to a country that it would be cheaper to keep them on. In other words if you are willing to move to India and take regular Indian working wages and conditions you can keep your crummy job. Wow THANKS IBM!

Do note the offer of a pay reduction is not valid if they want to stay in United States, only if they are willing to move elsewhere.

At least IBM is willing to pay part of their expenses for moving to another country which is just some paper work, finding a place to live, leaning new laws, etc. I doubt this offer is valid for classes to learn new languages.