I see it differently. Considering innovation happens more frequently at the small companies, I just see that rather than smaller companies going under, they will just be forced to sell more software to customers outside of U.S…..sort of like what I’m trying to do already off to the side.
U.S. will pay because they’ll end up not getting some of the cutting edge stuff smaller companies are willing to push.
It’s already a PITA to sell software in the U.S. (currently) simply because of the slowed economy and we’re hitting saturation here already.
Also, while these brilliant ideas apply to boxed software, I wonder what this means for Software as a Service offerings. You aren’t exactly selling a piece of code but a service….I would think the liabilities would have to be crafted differently for services than packaged apps.
Extending this further…This might end up causing the cost of software developers to go up considerably. Let’s consider you are an independent contractor. Well, assuming you could end up writing software that is subject to huge liabilities, you probably would also need to increase your insurance as well..considerably…Kinda like doctors with malpractice insurance. Amateurs won’t end up working in this profession due to liability risks, meaning a lesser pool of workers available…
Outsourcing I don’t think will be the issue one way or the other…Because I don’t think it would matter where the software orginates from…Anyone who sells in the U.S. would be subject to liabilities…In fact, it might do some good by putting out of business some of the shitty outsourcing firms that hire crappy developers that costs .10 on the dollar. It would probably also make companies think twice about going for the cheapest programmers they can find (after they get hit with a big liability suit for the first time)….
Better brush up on your skills in internationalizing your software and i18n related issues 🙂
However, I really wouldn’t worry about this. You can bank that companies like Oracle, Microsoft, Ibm, apple etc who stand to be liable for billions fight this nail and tool. Imagine this. Everytime you get a blue screen or a virus, you can sue microsoft. Yeah, that’s going to fly with a $181B company. In this unlikely scenario, I can see elite software engineers turn to hackers overnight and teaming up with lawyers who are ambulance chasers. Rather than spending time creating, it would be more lucrative to spend time trying to find software defects and security holes. It’s like legalizing hacking…. Bring it!
