[vrnvu]

> When publishing software, you make a promise to your users.

Just to add on to that. Beyond a promise, it's a contract, and someone has to be responsible and accountable for it.

Like when you're walking or driving and see a traffic light... you don't stop to wonder if there's a race condition or if another signal is out of sync. You trust it and act.

Unfortunately, it feels like in software today, promises are made... but rarely kept. And worse, most people just seem to accept that. If traffic lights were broken, we'd just need to upgrade to the next version right?

[arccy]

actually, you're usually taught to look both ways at a traffic light...

[Verdex]

Second this. My dad always called it being "dead right" if you go through a green light without checking.

[MichaelZuo]

By definition the vast majority of software publishers are not that virtuous or credible.

Hence why large businesses pay a lot of money to get guarantees in writing from reputable firms, even though the nominally same software may be available for free.