The Week in Major Software Bugs
It’s another end of the work-week over here at TechWell and what better way to celebrate the upcoming weekend than by taking a look at the major software glitches and errors that recently took place. Really, I can’t think of a better way than to relish in a little schadenfreude. Just kidding, think of this post as a learning experience to make sure you check and double-check your work.
1. Twitter
It’s a sad day for all when Twitter twitches in-and-out of service, as the LA Times reported this week. The paper talked to a Twitter spokesperson who said the outage occurred because of a “cascaded bug,” which Wired describes as being “A situation where one item fails which causes another item to fail, and the fail trail continues like a trail of dominoes.” For an in-depth account of the glitch occurring in real-time, head on over to The Droid Guy, which chronicles each individual crash during the day like only a true obsessive can.
2. Facebook
It seems like that pesky software glitch that sullied Facebook’s IPO shows no signs of disappearing from the minds of outraged investors. However, Facebook is fighting back by pointing the blame at Nasdaq, as Mashable reports.
From Mashable:
In a newly released court motion to consolidate shareholder lawsuits against the company, Facebook reveals Nasdaq’s software crash caused a huge mess of its IPO.
Nasdaq tech glitches caused a 30-minute delay on May 18. Many traders reported trouble with canceling orders and trading, at times, on the platform. The motion reveals some investors are suing Nasdaq in six class action cases. These lawsuits allege Nasdaq caused a lot of uncertainty and investor losses.
3. Microsoft
Microsoft made itself relevant to tech pundits after a long lull with the announcement of the Surface tablet/laptop (tabletop!) this week, but unfortunately (for the company) became subject to an internet meme thanks to a buggy demonstration (which can be seen at the bottom of this article).
Zach Whittaker sums it up nicely in CNET:
But just over one minute of awkwardness in 2012 sends the company back fifteen years to the inaugural demonstration of Windows 98 and "that crash" that caused the crowd to erupt in hysterics. The Surface-crash video has been viewed more than two million times as of this morning.
