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Licensing Developers?
Tinman57:
Just think of all the hospital equipment that's computer controlled. The machines and software already have to pass the FDA before it can be used in an actual setting. So it's already regulated in the medical field.....
Edvard:
Just think of all the hospital equipment that's computer controlled. The machines and software already have to pass the FDA before it can be used in an actual setting. So it's already regulated in the medical field.....
-Tinman57 (August 12, 2013, 05:05 PM)
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Whoooooaaa there, let me tell you something... medical equipment, hardware and software, is held to several orders of magnitude above 'normal' standards. To be approved for medical uses, the equipment and software that may run in it has to not fail. Period. Ever. It is SERIOUS business. Are you willing to take on that level of responsibility? If any coder would require a license to do business, it would probably be those in the medical equipment field. But as has been mentioned before, the employer usually takes care of that. I don't have any hard numbers or data, just anecdotal talk around the electronic hobbyist circles.
As far as 'license to code' goes, I think it may happen, but only in certain markets, and GPL/Open/Free/Libre software will always be around as long as the internet is not completely locked down. I believe restrictions on dissemination of information over the internet may be more prevalent as the years go by, simply through creeping regulation, but like some smart scientist said, the internet is built to route around errors, and control/suppression/censoring counts as an error in the current internet mindset and operation.
So, there is hope... for a little while :)
*EDIT* It was John Gilmore -- "The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it."
Renegade:
Just think of all the hospital equipment that's computer controlled. The machines and software already have to pass the FDA before it can be used in an actual setting. So it's already regulated in the medical field.....
-Tinman57 (August 12, 2013, 05:05 PM)
--- End quote ---
Whoooooaaa there, let me tell you something... medical equipment, hardware and software, is held to several orders of magnitude above 'normal' standards. To be approved for medical uses, the equipment and software that may run in it has to not fail. Period. Ever. It is SERIOUS business. Are you willing to take on that level of responsibility? If any coder would require a license to do business, it would probably be those in the medical equipment field. But as has been mentioned before, the employer usually takes care of that. I don't have any hard numbers or data, just anecdotal talk around the electronic hobbyist circles.
-Edvard (August 12, 2013, 11:08 PM)
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But wouldn't society benefit if we extended decent standards like that to EVERYTHING?
IIRC NASA has something like 50,000 words or pages (don't remember exactly, but it's 50k something or similar) of documentation per line of code for the space shuttle.
Can you possibly imagine just how much better the Internet would be if every web site were held to that standard?
What about video cards and hardware? No more kernel panics. You'd never lose any data again. And neither would the NSA, so the terrorists wouldn't win!
As far as 'license to code' goes, I think it may happen, but only in certain markets, and GPL/Open/Free/Libre software will always be around as long as the internet is not completely locked down.
-Edvard (August 12, 2013, 11:08 PM)
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But isn't GPL/Open/Free/Libre software really just a part of the whole problem? Letting just "anyone" write software? No quality controls? No supervision? No central planning? Constant duplicated efforts? The same problem being solved over and over again? Conflicting licenses like the ASL and GPL? These anonymous coders could be terrorists! How do we know unless they're identified, licensed, and regulated?
I believe restrictions on dissemination of information over the internet may be more prevalent as the years go by, simply through creeping regulation, but like some smart scientist said, the internet is built to route around errors, and control/suppression/censoring counts as an error in the current internet mindset and operation.
-Edvard (August 12, 2013, 11:08 PM)
--- End quote ---
But what about the terrorists and cyber-criminals? They use the Internet without restriction to wreak their havoc on society. Wouldn't it serve the greater good if we did away with all what you call "errors"? We'd all be safer in the end.
If we can't have complete control and safety right now, can't we at least agree to compromise a bit and have just a little bit more regulation? Perhaps not licensing every coder immediately, but couldn't we start with something?
Like restaurants? I know a fellow who writes software for restaurants and he's neither licensed nor regulated. We're talking about food and nutrition here. Kids eat at restaurants! Think of the children! Stricter standards on software used in restaurants would improve quality and safety, and be a net benefit to the greater good.
So, there is hope... for a little while :)
-Edvard (August 12, 2013, 11:08 PM)
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You're starting to sound like another baby killer! >:(
(Are we having fun yet? ;D 8))
Target:
for those that don't know there's an election looming in Australia and I'm pretty sure Renegade is testing his platform on you guys
please, don't encourage him :'(
Renegade:
for those that don't know there's an election looming in Australia and I'm pretty sure Renegade is testing his platform on you guys
please, don't encourage him :'(
-Target (August 13, 2013, 12:07 AM)
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I trust that I can count on your support, eh? ;)
If anyone wants to volunteer for my campaign, we still need more ballot-box stuffers. At the moment the other guys have more than we do, which is obviously not fair!
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