[raverbashing]

> Production of software is nearly 100% R&D. Making a million copies of a software product has a trivial cost.

> Production of hardware is some R&D, and then actual manufacturing

Totally. And if you think deployment errors are bad, wait until you see how many production errors exist and how many items out of your line come out working and within spec

[nine_k]

Indeed. You cannot release a patch for a mechanical part or a PCB.

[moregrist]

For a PCB it’s called a rework, and it’s very common for first spins of boards to have to do one.

Also common is to patch around issues, when possible, in firmware. This is often lower cost/effort, but can’t fix everything.

There are similar kinds of fixes for purely mechanical parts. Depending on the part and problem, mechanical can be easier than a PCB rework (eg: modify a part in CAD and 3D print or get your local machine shop to do a run).

[TheSpiceIsLife]

Or require a particular type of motor oil with a particular type of metal-based lubricant additive when you realise 100,000 cam shafts have shipped made of metal you’d assumed was to a higher spec but isn’t, just so the engine will make it through warranty period with insanely long service intervals.

I briefly looked at a couple used vehicles just outside of warranty and one within warranty that had literally had two oil changers in 100,000k, that’s 60,000 miles for the uninitiated.

[kjkjadksj]

You just release a new version. How many xbox 360s did they actually release? I think its close to a dozen iterations.

[throwaway2037]

    > You cannot release a patch for a mechanical part

In NATO, this is frequent and normal. Many, many "recalls" are issued by military manfacturers, then local support staff spend X hours to replace the defective part. It is not so different from automobile recalls.

[raverbashing]

Correct. Also the economics of a mechanical patch are favourable for something in the M$ range with a fix costing in the 10k$ to 100k$ range

[zmgsabst]

You can and people do.

It’s just a lot more expensive and labor intensive to apply.