Re: Software Vendors

[Jim Langston <jlangston@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

You are not outdated in your thinking, the vendors are.

Unfortunately, this is an industry standard practice.

I quit one job because the owner/president actually PUT
a bug in my code so he could charge his customers for
maintenance.  His reasoning was that it could not be too
good or they wouldn't pay maintenance fees.

If I was his customer and I found this out I would of sued
him for every penny of maintenance fees I had ever paid.

Think about it, it pays for software providers to have bugs
in their code.  If there are no bugs then you don't have to
pay to get them fixed.

I believe it is morally, ethically and legally wrong.

Regards,

Jim Langston

Debbie Panco wrote:

> I have a question that has been plaguing me.  Say you have a software vendor
> who sells
> you a package and you have so many days to test the software that you
> received.  During
> your test period you find some problems, bring it to the vendor's attention
> and they
> get you the fixes.  Now, say that the test period has expired and during
> some further
> testing, you come across some other problem that was obviously resident in
> the original
> code. You bring it to your attention, but they now tell you that if you want
> the problem
> fixed, you will have to pay them to fix it because time spent now comes
> under consulting
> fees which are billable to you.  Now, this may be the way it is per the
> contract and it
> may be all legal and such.  But, from an ethical point of view, I have a
> problem with this.
> My thought is that regardless of how much time goes by, a vendor should be
> financially
> responsible for correcting programming or other technical problems that are
> found within
> their product.  I feel that their position should be: "Thanks, for finding
> that error for us
> and we will get right on coming up with a fix for it.".  But the attitudes
> that we have
> come across seem to be, "Well, you bought it as is and if you want it fixed
> you will have to
> pay us our current consulting fees to fix it.".  Is it just me or does
> anyone else see
> anything wrong with this logic?  Am I outdated in my thinking?

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