All Software is Defective

They're called bugs or issues or problems or vulnerabilities, but they're all really defects. And all software has them. Of course companies don't use the word defective. It is a harsh word that makes you think of small parts breaking off of toys and choking your child. Or the brakes failing on your car. Or your stove burning down your home.

EULA stands for End User License Agreement. It is a legal set of terms that you accept whenever you use any software. In some cases you might not realize that you accepted the terms, but you did. For example, the EULA might be in the manual that you never read. The EULA exists to protect the company from you. There is always a part of the terms that state the the company is not responsible for any harm caused by its software. There are legals limits, which vary by jurisdiction, to this; but, it certainly does not leave you with a warm, fuzzy feeling.

They're called patches or fixes or updates, but they're all created to correct defects. In today's world, they are almost exclusively delivered via Internet. If you don't have an Internet connection or if your connection speed is too slow to download a large update in a reasonable amount of time, which is not uncommon, then you are stuck. Maybe you can pay the company to send you the update on a disk. Maybe you can get a friend to download the update for you.

You also need an Internet connection if you want your software to check for updates. If you have a dial-up connection and your software is set to automatically check for updates, you might be missing updates. That can happen if the check for updates occurs while you are not connected to the Internet.

Windows XP, the operating system that most people in the world have on their computers, was released in 2001 and Microsoft is still releasing fixes for it every month. How would you feel if you had to bring your car into the dealer to get something fixed every month for almost a decade? And I'm not talking about something that broke since you bought your car; I'm talking about recalls for problems that were there when you bought your car.

I choose Windows XP as an example, not to pick on Microsoft, but to show the extent of the situation. Microsoft is a HUGE company and Windows XP is the base piece of software that runs on most computers. If Microsoft is not able to make Windows XP perfect, then you should have doubts about any company getting any software perfect.

Q: Why is all software defective?
A: Because software is very complex. Because writing perfect software is a very difficult to impossible task. Because many of the older building blocks that programmers still use have defects that have not or cannot be fixed. Because comprehensively testing software is harder than writing it.

Q: Should I be scared?
A: No. Many defects are not serious. But, since serious defects do exist, you should be cautious instead of scared. Learn how to make backups. Learn how to keep your computer's operating system and security software up-to-date. Learn how to be suspicious of emails. Etc.

Q: Is it really all software that is defective?
A: If you are asking that question, then, yes, all software that you use has defects. (In case you are curious, computer geeks start with very simple programs—such as the famous "Hello, World"—when they are learning to program. Sometimes it is possible to make sure that a very simple program is bug-free. However, the average person does not use these programs.)