TL;DR: I disagree, and I will say upfront that my views on software are extreme. I think quality is a glaring issue in most software.
There is a lot of subpar software out there, and the rest is largely decent-but-not-great. If it's security I want, that's commonly lacking, and hugely so. If it's performance I want, that's commonly lacking[0]. If it's documentation...you get the idea. We should have rigor by default, and if that means software is produced slower, I frankly don't see the problem with that. (Although commercial viability has gone out the window unless big players comply.) Exceptions will be carved out depending on the scope of the program. It's much harder to add in rigor post hoc. The end goal is quality.
The other issue is that a program's scope is indeed broader than controlling lives, and yet there are many bad outcomes. If I just get my passwords stolen or my computer crashes daily or my messaging app takes a bit too long to load every time, what is the harm? Of course those are wildly different outcomes, but I think at least the first and second are obviously quality issues, and I think the third is also important. Why is the third important? When software is such an integral part of users' lives, minor issues cause faults that prompt workarounds or inefficiencies. [1] discusses a similar line of thought. I know I personally avoid doing some actions commonly (e.g. check LinkedIn) because they involve pain points around waiting for my browser to load and whatnot, nothing major but something that's always present. Software ("automation") in theory makes all things that the user implicitly desires to be non-pain points for the user. An interesting blend of issues is system dialog password prompts, which users will generally try to either avoid or address on autopilot, which tends to reduce security. Or take system update restarts, which induce not updating frequently. Or take what is perhaps my favorite invectives: blaming Electron apps. One Electron app can be inconvenient. Multiple Electron apps can be absurd. I feel like I shouldn't have to justify calling out Electron on HN, but I do, but I won't here. And take unintended uses: if I need to set down an injured person across two chairs, I sure hope a chair doesn't break or something. Sure, that's not the intended use case of a chair, but I don't think it's unreasonable that a well-made chair would not fail to live up to my expectations. I wouldn't put an elephant on the chair either way, because intuitively I don't expect that much. Even then, users may expect more out of software than is reasonable, but that should be remedied and not overlooked.
Do not mistake having users for having a quality product.
You seem to use eager evaluation of usability whereas in practice most people only need lazy evaluation. We use risk assessment of going from point A to point B, two concrete points. You seem to use risk assessment equivalent to JavaScript's array.flat(Infinity).
We don't need to talk about theoretical risks. Is there not something wrong about a calculator app asking for contacts and location permissions[0]? Are ads fine if they can be used to track every detail of what you do and want? Was it fine when CrowdStrike caused Windows systems in airports BSOD and lead to massive delays? I'm not even talking about threats to life here. There is plenty of evidence that a lot of software has...issues. If you haven't come across one that you consider indicative, try waiting a few years. Time doesn't heal bugs that don't get fixed, and the best case scenario is a headache or some lost money. You can say "in practice most people only need lazy evaluation" because the reality isn't that software quality is overall mediocre, it's that there aren't delightfully convenient alternatives to switch to. In practice, most people only need something that somewhat works, even when it often doesn't, because complaining otherwise is unproductive.
And you seem to have ignored a lot of what I said, as if I was just talking about a few rare, critical problems.
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it."
- Upton Sinclair
and note (because it is not included in the quote) that a literal salary is not necessary or sufficient. Really? Is this not just resigning to subpar software? My counterpoint is that what is popular is not necessarily what should be popular. And I think you're still tunnel-visioning for a specific thing to criticize. Do I have to keep giving examples until I find one you will deign to agree is a serious issue? Just as hasty generalization is harmful, so is hasty specialization. Perhaps you personally don't see a problem, but there can be many reasons for that.
It's getting from point A to point B with whatever works best given the circumstances after considering all the pros and cons. Sometimes that is garbage software. I mean I've even used _____ once or twice! [edit] redacted to not throw any software under the bus
> It's getting from point A to point B with whatever works best given the circumstances after considering all the pros and cons.
I agree with you on this, but on this forum that's full of people who write software, I'm skeptical that making better software isn't often (usually?) the better choice. But I understand that this is one of those "critical mass" things where a few people can't do nearly as much.
The point is that "better" is relative to a whole bunch of trade-offs that you have to manage and pick and choose per language per project pre need, and just like in spoken language, there's no obvious Perfect Software Language. They all have trade-offs.
There is a lot of subpar software out there, and the rest is largely decent-but-not-great. If it's security I want, that's commonly lacking, and hugely so. If it's performance I want, that's commonly lacking[0]. If it's documentation...you get the idea. We should have rigor by default, and if that means software is produced slower, I frankly don't see the problem with that. (Although commercial viability has gone out the window unless big players comply.) Exceptions will be carved out depending on the scope of the program. It's much harder to add in rigor post hoc. The end goal is quality.
The other issue is that a program's scope is indeed broader than controlling lives, and yet there are many bad outcomes. If I just get my passwords stolen or my computer crashes daily or my messaging app takes a bit too long to load every time, what is the harm? Of course those are wildly different outcomes, but I think at least the first and second are obviously quality issues, and I think the third is also important. Why is the third important? When software is such an integral part of users' lives, minor issues cause faults that prompt workarounds or inefficiencies. [1] discusses a similar line of thought. I know I personally avoid doing some actions commonly (e.g. check LinkedIn) because they involve pain points around waiting for my browser to load and whatnot, nothing major but something that's always present. Software ("automation") in theory makes all things that the user implicitly desires to be non-pain points for the user. An interesting blend of issues is system dialog password prompts, which users will generally try to either avoid or address on autopilot, which tends to reduce security. Or take system update restarts, which induce not updating frequently. Or take what is perhaps my favorite invectives: blaming Electron apps. One Electron app can be inconvenient. Multiple Electron apps can be absurd. I feel like I shouldn't have to justify calling out Electron on HN, but I do, but I won't here. And take unintended uses: if I need to set down an injured person across two chairs, I sure hope a chair doesn't break or something. Sure, that's not the intended use case of a chair, but I don't think it's unreasonable that a well-made chair would not fail to live up to my expectations. I wouldn't put an elephant on the chair either way, because intuitively I don't expect that much. Even then, users may expect more out of software than is reasonable, but that should be remedied and not overlooked.
Do not mistake having users for having a quality product.
[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43971464 [1] https://blog.regehr.org/archives/861