Subject: Software 'tortured' during testing, PETS claims Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 18:10:34 -0400 (compressed header follows) From: Peter W Antoniou From: Mike Pustolka From: Roy Atkinson To: The various recipients of PackyHumor ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Victims cooped up in tiny rooms NEW YORK - People for the Ethical Treatment of Software (PETS) announced today that more software companies have been added to the groups "watch list" of companies that regularly practice software testing. "There is no need for sotfware to be mistreated in this way so that companies like these can market new products," said Ken Grandola, a spokesman for PETS. "Alternative methods of testing these products are available." According to PETS, these companies force software to undergo lengthy and arduous test - often without rest - for hours or days at a time. Employees are assigned to "break" the software by any means necessary, and inside sources report that they often joke about "torturing" the software. "It's no joke," Grandola said. "Innocent programs, from the day they are compiles, are cooped up in tiny rooms and 'crashed' for hours on end. They spend their whole lives on dirty, ill-maintained computers, and they are unceremoniously deleted when they're not needed anymore." Grandola said that the software is kept in unsanitary conditions and is infested with bugs. "We know alternatives to this horror exist," he said, citing industry giant Microsoft Corp. as a company that has become successful without resorting to software testing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PackyHumor: some idiotic, inane or otherwise confusing mail that packy, for no discernable reason, chooses to inflict on his friends. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ What kind of name is 'Packy'? Visit 'www.dardan.com/packynet' to find out!