Actually - this comes down to the argument of what the market will bear, contract law, and the legal ramifications of bugs/problems.
You "bought" the software, and agreed to the license terms when you opened the box, didn't you - Caveat Emptor. As long as you keep buying it, people/companies will keep making it. And, being a software manafacturer myself (see http://www.dignus.com) - the thought of having legal responsibility for a potential problem in my software (which you've mentioned, despite anyone's best efforts, will have bugs) is very scary. I would want to pass that responsibility to the developers who wrote it, just as a bridge engineer is responsible for the bridge he designs. Then, the developers would, presumably, have to become licensed and have professional development/malpractice insurance... which ultimately drives up the price of the software. So, as everyone else, we disclaim everything up-front in our license agreement and sell our software at reasonable prices. But -hackers isn't likely the place for this... - Dave Rivers - To Unsubscribe: send mail to [email protected] with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
