{"id":20893,"date":"2011-03-22T09:48:02","date_gmt":"2011-03-22T14:48:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/?p=20893"},"modified":"2011-03-22T09:48:02","modified_gmt":"2011-03-22T14:48:02","slug":"ask-leo-will-computers-ever-be-malware-bug-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pcmatic.com\/blog\/ask-leo-will-computers-ever-be-malware-bug-free\/","title":{"rendered":"Ask Leo: Will computers ever be malware & bug free?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"askleo\"<\/p>\n

By Leo Notenboom<\/p>\n

\n

My question is perhaps more of an industry one than a personal<\/p>\n

computing question. Because malware, viruses, spam and the similar user-beware problems affect just about everyone who uses the \u2018net for their daily informational needs, why hasn\u2019t the technology industry tackled these issues head on? These are the problems that ultimately affect the non-computer savvy general user the most devastatingly.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the question can be simplified: On the foreseeable horizon, will there be<\/p>\n

a time when users will not have to worry about viruses and malware? And why can’t computer developers simply make one that is virus-free now?<\/p>\n

Are there existing machines, platforms, etc, which can affordably take the<\/p>\n

risk out of using the internet? It just seems that no matter how careful one<\/p>\n

is or what virus software they use, the “bug” eventually gets them and<\/p>\n

huge problems ensue. You would think that the profit potential would be so<\/p>\n

significant that the developers out there would be jumping all over this<\/p>\n

opportunity – the bug-free system.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

You’re actually asking two separate questions:<\/p>\n

Is it possible to create or write bug-free software?<\/p>\n

Is it possible to create a computer system that is impervious to malware?<\/p>\n

The practical answer to both is, unfortunately, no.<\/p>\n

Bug Free Software<\/b> <\/p>\n

It sounds really simple: if we just wrote software more carefully, used better tools or techniques, or hired better programmers, we should be able to get rid of every possible bug, right? No mistakes. Ever.<\/p>\n

There is no such thing as bug-free software. Period.<\/p>\n

Yes, some software is better or worse than others, but as an absolute
\nmeasure, no software ever reaches perfection.<\/p>\n

There are three problems at play here: complexity, time, and
\nfunctionality.<\/p>\n

Complexity<\/b> <\/p>\n

What most people fail to grasp is the incredible complexity behind most of
\nour computer systems today. It’s truly mind-boggling to think of the thousands, if not
\nhundreds of thousands of man-years of effort that have gone into getting any your
\ncomputer to boot and run effectively. (I’m being OS-agnostic here. I don’t
\ncare if it’s Windows, Mac or Linux – they’re all incredibly complex
\nbeasts.)<\/p>\n

People that understand are amazed that they work at all. I know I am.<\/p>\n

Make it less complex? Well, that means making it do less, be capable
\nof less, and be less functional.<\/p>\n

Whatever you decide to cut out is important to someone. I don’t care which
\nfeature you hate the most and would love to see cut completely from the next
\nversion of whatever product you care to name. There’s someone, perhaps lots
\nof someones, who care deeply about that feature and would be incredibly upset
\nto see it removed.<\/p>\n

Computers are general purpose devices and people expect computers to be
\ncapable of many things – even many things that haven’t been thought of
\nyet.<\/p>\n

And that leads to incredible complexity.<\/p>\n

Time<\/b> <\/p>\n

So why not just take more time to get it right?<\/p>\n

There’s a strong argument for that, and you’ll often see difficult decisions
\nbeing made throughout the life of a software project, jettisoning features and
\nfunctionality so that more time can be spent on getting what remains correct.
\nOr you’ll see projects take longer than planned because of the extra time that it required
\nto meet a minimal quality bar.<\/p>\n

But the practical reality is that software that never ships does no one any
\ngood. At some point, a trade-off has to be made between spending more time developing software or deciding that it’s good enough, knowing<\/em> that it will never, ever be perfect.<\/p>\n

It’s not that the people working these projects are stupid – far, far from
\nit. Writing today’s intensely complex systems in a way that meets everyone’s
\nexpectations in a reasonable amount of time is hard. Very hard.<\/p>\n

It’s not an excuse, it’s a reality. And the reality is that mistakes will be
\nmade.<\/p>\n

Article continued here<\/a><\/p>\n

FaceBook URL: Leo’s Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n

Twitter URL: http:\/\/twitter.com\/askleo<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"askleo\"<\/p>\n

By Leo Notenboom<\/p>\n

It’s not uncommon for folks to ask why computer systems seem as fragile and as vulnerable as they so often do. It’s a legitimate question.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":66012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[46,384,385,48,386,387,4875,56,388,389,390,167,391],"class_list":["post-20893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leo-notenboom","tag-ask-leo","tag-better-tools","tag-complexity","tag-computer","tag-computer-developers","tag-functionality","tag-leo-notenboom","tag-malware","tag-personal-computing","tag-reality","tag-spyware-2","tag-today","tag-virus-software"],"yoast_head":"\nAsk Leo: Will computers ever be malware & bug free?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Leo Notenboom It's not uncommon for folks to ask why computer systems seem as fragile and as vulnerable as they so often do. 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