The “software sucks” phrase while appealing to a broad audience, also muddies the waters. It’s not just that software is being written flippantly or non-chalantly. There are many places that are being proactive, using unit-tests & building quality.

There is also a huge web of interdependencies that is growing. While I could once play a small collection of music, with one button, I now have an infinite encyclopedia of the worlds music at my finger tips, but it takes 9 steps to get there. In that process I might have to update pieces of software & jump through other hoops that don’t have anything to do with my goal: play music.

I sent this article to another friend and he said “There is no way around computerizing everything. Its just impossible”. I think he’s probably right. It is the leading edge of the inertia of civilization.

With that, I think raising awareness so we can be more mindful is key. I think getting burned is helping at the political level, but more needs to happen before we’re vigilant enough.

Most operations experts (Unix guys) would say, all good sysadmins are paranoid by nature. Amen.