padgett%tccslr.dnet@uvs1.orl.mmc.com (Padgett Peterson) (07/31/90)
Bill Murray writes: >People who intend to ship tens of thousands of copies of the same floppy >have a SPECIAL OBLIGATION to ensure that they are clean. Since the USA is the most lawyer-heavy country in the world, for some time I have been expecting a civil suit to result from someone who should have known better shipping a virus. Once this happens, there will probably be a mad scramble by software houses to CYA, a new breed of malpractise insurance will be created, a new clause will appear in govenment boilerplate, & software screening of distributions will become standard. All adding cost. Next, statutes will be enacted requiring labeling of re-shrink- wrapped software, software prices will increase dramatically, & the industry will experience another recession. Of course, by then the Lotus "look and feel" suit may have made it impossible to sell new software (in 1966 by Government decree the "look & feel" of automobile and motorcycle controls were standardized as a safety measure. Then it was considered desirable for everyone to be the same - Harley-Davidson had to move the gear shift from the left to the right foot to match the Japanese - now, doing this for software may be illegal). These are the good old days. Padgett