How Did Your Computer Crash?

ANYONE who uses a computer knows what it’s like to have the system crash. Crashes are the digital world’s addition to that short list of inevitables, death and taxes. But what if you could record the crash and play it back, like TiVo for software? That idea inspired two software engineers, Jonathan Lindo and Jeffrey Daudel, to figure out such a product. They have succeeded, and are now moving from the niche market where they proved the idea and onto a bigger stage. System crashes and other software flaws are more than an annoyance. A 2002 study by the National Institute of Standards and Technology estimated that software flaws cost the United States economy as much as $59.5 billion a year. For software developers, the flaws that cause crashes rank among their biggest problems, especially the ones that can’t be reproduced, like the proverbial noise in the car engine that disappears when you visit the mechanic. Read More