> For some reason the software engineering world largely abandoned esteem and respect for all of the above.
That's what happens when there's no liability. Even if you're a billion dollar corporation, you can just slap some standard legal boilerplate disclaimer on the license agreement and absolve yourself of all responsibility even when hackers pwn the private information of your customers. They can't complain since technically the contract says there were no guarantees.
Some version if this legal boilerplate can be found in virtually all software licenses, including open source ones:
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS",
WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.
IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS OR ANYONE DISTRIBUTING
THE SOFTWARE BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY,
WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF
OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS
IN THE SOFTWARE.
Start holding developers and especially corporations directly accountable and liable for any problems and I guarantee they'll start respecting it the very next second.
That's what happens when there's no liability. Even if you're a billion dollar corporation, you can just slap some standard legal boilerplate disclaimer on the license agreement and absolve yourself of all responsibility even when hackers pwn the private information of your customers. They can't complain since technically the contract says there were no guarantees.
Some version if this legal boilerplate can be found in virtually all software licenses, including open source ones:
Start holding developers and especially corporations directly accountable and liable for any problems and I guarantee they'll start respecting it the very next second.