Consumers put up with computer problems

In the past week we've learned that a flaw in two popular e-mail software programs could wreak havoc on computers worldwide; a bug in a Microsoft operating system leaves a gaping security hole; and a software company is blaming yet another flawed Microsoft program for preventing its program from operating. 

Consumers reacted with a collective yawn, despite the serious nature of the software flaws. 

The lack of public outcry underscores how people have come to accept defects in computers that would be intolerable in virtually any other consumer product. 

"If my car worked as bad as my computer, I would return it under the no-lemon law," said David Jacobsen, a product manager for Xerox Corp. who lives in Osseo. 

Earlier this week, for example, Jacobsen was closing in on a deal and all he needed was for his contract manager to e-mail him a file, which he would then print out and send to the client. 

"Sorry, cannot open file," his computer replied when he tried to read the e-mail. 

"I had a million-dollar order in my e-mail and there was no way I could get it," Jacobsen said. "I had to wait another three hours for us to figure it out. In the old days with a fax machine, I could have had it two minutes later." 

The gaffe didn't nix Jacobsen's deal, but it highlights the lonesome plight computer users often face. What's more, the industry relies on consumers checking back with the company's Web site for "patches" to programs with bugs. Often patches are never posted. In many cases, customers might not learn about flaws in software until damage has been done. 

And when something does go wrong, virtually every software license prevents the customer from claiming damages beyond the price of the software, even if the software company knew that bugs existed in the software and those bugs destroyed valuable data on the customer's computer. 

"They had good lawyers," said Robert Seidel, director of the Charles Babbage Institute at the University of Minnesota and a historian of modern science. 

Software writing doesn't have the same standards in place that other industries do. Only the marketplace has final say over whether a product succeeds or fails despite its flaws. That environment does, however, promote constant and rapid innovation, Seidel said. 

Seidel says that as the computer industry matures, it may develop standards for reliability similar to the safeguards in the automobile, electronics and pharmaceutical industries. 

The computer industry has cited the tremendous complexity of modern systems as the reason for many of the bugs in software and hardware, pointing out that programs have to interact with a myriad of components from scores of manufacturers. 

Others point to the intense pressure to create new features and applications. Almost no major new computer product goes out the door without significant flaws. 

"Quality control in the computer industry is certainly not what it used to be," said Steven Pine, director of global messaging for Honeywell Corp. "There is so much emphasis on increased cycle time, with programs coming out weeks rather than years apart, that testing time is not being put in." 

At some point, benefits from new features could be outweighed by quality concerns, particularly as the industry grapples with, and society pays for, the largest computer bug ever: the Year 2000 problem, which prevents computers from distinguishing between the years 2000 and 1900. The bug, known as Y2K, has the potential to crash virtually every computer system in the world. 

"Eventually, I think the industry will be held responsible, particularly if the Y2K problem is bad enough," Seidel said. "You'll find that customers will become much more demanding. Right now, they're dazzled by these things."
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