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Software Bugs: A Matter of Life and Liability On the morning of March 21, 1986, Voyne Ray Cox lay face down on a table beneath a linear accelerator radiation machine [...]

Legal cases filed against Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL) and the East Texas Cancer Center (Tyler, TX) epitomizes software reliability at its worst and raises moral and legal issues for software programmers, designers, and engineers. The AECL's Therac 25 software for its linear accelerator radiation machine is said to have malfunctioned, resulting in lethal doses of radiation to two patient in 1985 and 1986. A similar case was filed against AECL and the Kennestone Regional Oncology Center in Georgia. Legal implications are examined.

Corporate Dollars on Campus: Who Profits? At first glance, it seems to be an unlikely match--AT&T providing support for genetic research at the University of Virginia (UVA). But the communications [...]

IBM invested $71 million to support educational institutions in 1985; in the same year, IBM spent another $127.5 million in multiyear cooperative research with 205 universities worldwide. Digital Equipment contributed $5 million in equipment and $20 million in multiyear contracts in FY 1986. Both research and philanthropy continue to grow. Some firms view these programs as a partial subsitute for in-house research. Other companies look for a return in terms of employee recruitment or future customers.