[1902] in Humor
HUMOR: PETS and Ethics
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (abennett@MIT.EDU)
Mon Feb 17 22:33:56 1997
From: <abennett@MIT.EDU>
To: humor@MIT.EDU
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1997 22:28:55 EST
From: Merlyn Liberty <merlyn@swcp.com>
Date: 16 Feb 97 17:53:47 -0800
From: Gordon Garb <ggarb@apple.com>
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SEVEN SOFTWARE COMPANIES ADDED TO "WATCH LIST"
New York, NY,Jan 13 -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Software
(PETS) announced today that seven more software companies have been
added to the group's "watch list" of companies that regularly
practice software testing.
"There is no need for software to be mistreated in this way so that
companies like these can market new products," said Ken Granola,
spokesperson for PETS. "Alternative methods of testing these products
are available."
According to PETS, these companies force software to undergo lengthy
and arduous tests, often without rest for hours or days at a time.
Employees are assigned to "break" the software by any means
necessary, and inside sources report that they often joke about
"torturing" the software.
"It's no joke," said Granola. "Innocent programs, from the day they
are compiled, are cooped up in tiny rooms and 'crashed' for hours on
end. They spend their whole lives on dirty, ill-maintained computers,
and are unceremoniously deleted when they're not needed anymore."
Granola said the software is kept in unsanitary conditions and is
infested with bugs.
"We know alternatives to this horror exist," he said, citing industry
giant Microsoft Corp. as a company that has become extremely
successful without resorting to software testing.
