> But this could happen with any device that is controlled by software.
Absolutely not. This kind of lazy, defeatist attitude towards failure is a huge problem in the software world.
There should have been checks that handled when the server (or anything else) became available with a contingency already in place to fail safely. Ideally, some of those checks should have been outside the area affected by software updates, such as in hardware.
As software moves into more and more areas that are traditionally thought of as hardware developers need to realize that in some areas bugs are not acceptable. Ever.
// sigh - do we need to get the terac-25 report out again?
Absolutely not. This kind of lazy, defeatist attitude towards failure is a huge problem in the software world.
There should have been checks that handled when the server (or anything else) became available with a contingency already in place to fail safely. Ideally, some of those checks should have been outside the area affected by software updates, such as in hardware.
As software moves into more and more areas that are traditionally thought of as hardware developers need to realize that in some areas bugs are not acceptable. Ever.
// sigh - do we need to get the terac-25 report out again?