law lemon wisconsin 2007

By Mikael Pawlo

An Open Source advocate would probably embrace such legislation at first sight. The legislation would skyrocket production costs for Microsoft if the company were forced to release foolproof products. We all know that the open and distributed model for development described in Eric S. Raymond's book "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" is much better and creates more reliable products than any closed non-distributed development model. However, such legislation may actually work the other way around and effectively and permanently kill all Open Source and Free Software development. A very important part of the GNU General Public License is the provision regarding limitation of liability. According to GNU GPL clauses 11 and 12, the computer program is distributed as is with no warranties at all, unless otherwise provided by law. The courts would not recognize such limitation of liability if a law providing strict liability for serious errors in computer programs was introduced.

Hence, even Open Source projects would run the risk of a liability suit under such a law. The claims may be much smaller than in the comparable Microsoft case, due to the often non-existent price, but who would dare spend a few spare hours contributing on the Gnome project if he risked liability, no matter how small the claim?

You may argue that the users have a valid claim to get products that actually can be used for the purpose the products are designed for. Thus, the consumers would benefit from a strict liability for computer program developers. That might not actually be the case. With strict liability, the prices for products will increase, while the developers will need to get expensive insurance and substantially prolong the beta test period to find any possible bug. Hence, fewer and more expensive computer programs may reach the market. The lemon law case for computer programs is more complex than lemon laws for cars. Computer programs may be run a wide range of platforms and for uses that can not be predicted by the developer.

Computer programs are not material goods and cannot be dealt with in the same way consumer advocates wants the legislature to deal with cars, electric appliances and toys. Computer programs are developed incrementally, and the users are always used as dummies. Bugs are eventually corrected when the users discover them. If the computer programs are to be as foolproof as cars before they are released, we need a lot of the IT equivalent of crash test dummies. And the next Linux will probably never be released. MORE...

Posted by Law Lemon at 4:20 AM | Permalink | Comments

Wisconsin , bordered by the states of Iowa, Minnesota, Michigan and Illinois, as well as Lakes Michigan and Superior, has been part of United States territory since the end of the American Revolution; the Wisconsin Territory (which included parts of other current states) was formed on July 3, 1836. Wisconsin ratified its constitution March 13, 1848 and was admitted to the Union on May 29, 1848 as the thirtieth state. The state's southern boundary line was originally supposed to reach the southern-most tip of Lake Michigan, but for some reason politics intervened during the debates of the Northwest Ordinance to make it as it appears in the present day. Wisconsin would have possessed the City of Chicago had the state line been pushed further south as originally contemplated.

Wisconsin's economy was originally based on farming (especially dairy), mining, and lumbering. In the 20th century, tourism became important, and many people living on former farms commuted to jobs elsewhere. Large-scale industrialization began in the late 19th century in the southeast of the state, with the city of Milwaukee as its major center. In recent decades, service industries, especially medicine and education, have become dominant. Wisconsin's landscape, largely shaped by the Wisconsin glaciation of the last Ice Age, makes the state popular for both tourism and many forms of outdoor recreation.

Since its founding, Wisconsin has been ethnically heterogeneous, with Yankees being among the first to arrive from New York and New England. They dominated the state's heavy industry, finance, politics and education. Large numbers of European immigrants followed them, including Germans, mostly between 1850 and 1900, Scandinavians and smaller groups of Belgians, Dutch, Swiss, Finns, Irish and others; in the 20th century, large numbers of Poles and African-Americans came, settling mainly in Milwaukee.

Today, 42.6% of the population is of German ancestry, making Wisconsin one of the most German-American states in the United States. Numerous ethnic festivals are held throughout Wisconsin to celebrate its heritage. Such festivals are world renowned, and include Italian Days, Bastille Days, Summerfest, Africal World Festival, Indian Summer, and many others.

During the period of the Civil War, Wisconsin was a Republican and pro-Union stronghold. Ethno-religious issues in the late 19th century caused a brief split in the Republican coalition. Through the first half of the 20th century, Wisconin's politics were dominated by Robert La Follette and his sons, originally of the Republican Party, but later of their own Progressive Party. Since 1945, the state has maintained a close balance between Republicans and Democrats. Republican Senator Joe McCarthy was a major national figure in the early 1950s. Recent leading Republicans include former Governor Tommy Thompson and Congressman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr.; prominent Democrats include Governor Jim Doyle, Senators Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold, and Congressman David Obey
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Posted by Law Lemon at 4:02 AM | Permalink | Comments