[nycbug-talk] interesting read

[Isaac Levy]

On May 21, 2005, at 1:33 PM, alex at pilosoft.com wrote:

> On Sat, 21 May 2005, Isaac Levy wrote:
>
>> I'd Absolutely trust Open Source software over proprietary 
>> counterparts,
>> especially if it came out of the BSD camps where software is taken 
>> this
>> seriously in contexts like this.
>>
>> (i.e. thinking about it, I'd generally not trust my life to any Linux,
>> or about 90% of the software in the world- open or closed)
>>
>> I'll be sending flames to /dev/null on that one.
> Okay. Let's have more concrete example here - for example, software
> controlling an implantable pacemaker. What is the benefit for you, the
> user, of the fact that you get the compilable source with the 
> pacemaker?

GREAT topical choice alex, because,

Actually, my grandfather recieved one of the first open-heart surgery 
operations in the US in the 70's, he's had 3 of them to date, one set 
of pig valves, one set of donor valves, and has had 
titanum-robo-thingie valves for a long time now; and he definitely has 
a pacemaker.
(Kindof cool sidenote- when you give him a hug, you can hear his heart 
going 'click-click, click-click...')

With that, the pacemakers he's had have failed over the years with 
fairly traumatic results- and I've gotten to see the doctors trying to 
mitigate the vendor game, which we all know and hate in our own world.

So to answer your question, I believe it would be a very good thing if 
my grandfather, and the doctors, and even me, had the source code to 
what runs his pacemaker.

--
It's one thing to play the vendor-screw/patent game when you run 
servers on the internet.  It's another when you run someone's heart.  I 
personally choose to take them equally seriously.


>> Just food for thought here- but with regard to trusting one's life to
>> open source software, where'd OpenSSH come from, and what implications
>> does *it* have with regard to human life?
> What does openssh have to do life-critical applications? Despite what 
> you
> think, nobody's going to die if your password gets stolen.

You are correct, nobody is going to die if my password gets stolen, but 
think big picture Alex- you must understand that's not at all what I 
meant.

Best,
.ike