Monday, October 09, 2006

Fatal bugs in history of software

In an overly software dependent world, software quality has been more critical than ever before. Just came across an article in Baseline Magazine listing the "Eight Fatal Software-Related Accidents". Of them, the most devastating has been a software bug which hobbled a radar causing a Korean Jet crash killing 225 people in 1997.

On similar lines, I read an interesting article on Wired News entitled "History's Worst Software Bugs".

The article states,
"Sixty years later, computer bugs are still with us, and show no sign of going extinct. As the line between software and hardware blurs, coding errors are increasingly playing tricks on our daily lives. Bugs don't just inhabit our operating systems and applications — today they lurk within our cell phones and our pacemakers, our power plants and medical equipment. And now, in our cars."

While it is an accepted fact that a software can never be completely bug free, QA and test teams should atleast be able to ensure that the resultant bugs are not fatal to individuals and businesses. And thats where the real challenge lies.

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