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Comment by axus | Hacker News Reader

A classic:

THIS SOFTWARE PRODUCT MAY CONTAIN SUPPORT FOR PROGRAMS WRITTEN IN JAVA. JAVA TECHNOLOGY IS NOT FAULT TOLERANT AND IS NOT DESIGNED, MANUFACTURED, OR INTENDED FOR USE OR RESALE AS ONLINE CONTROL EQUIPMENT IN HAZARDOUS ENVIRONMENTS REQUIRING FAILSAFE PERFORMANCE, SUCH AS IN THE OPERATION OF NUCLEAR FACILITIES, AIRCRAFT NAVIGATION OR COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS, AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL, DIRECT LIFE SUPPORT MACHINES, OR WEAPONS SYSTEMS, IN WHICH THE FAILURE OF JAVA TECHNOLOGY COULD LEAD DIRECTLY TO DEATH, PERSONAL INJURY OR SEVERE PHYSICAL OR ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE.

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Look up DoD (DoW?) 882 and LOR ratings. This is a fancy way of saying “Java can’t do that because we haven’t certified a toolchain for it”

And for bonus points, go find the last certified compilers for LOR1 rating that follow 882 guidelines.

Now you’ve scratched the surface of safety-critical software. Actually writing it is a blast. I think most web developers would weep in frustration. “Wait, I can’t allocate memory that way? Or that way? Or in this way not at all?! There’s no framework?! You mean I need to do all this to verify a button click??!!”

Most web developers don't know what "memory allocation" is and let alone how to manually allocate it.

I think people that don't write safety-critical software in general will weep in frustration, not just web developers.

I never knew Java was so dangerous

Everything is dangerous by default. That's the point.

This excerpt does not disclaim liability for death, personal injury or physical damage (b/c generally they can't)

Nor does it prohibit use or resale of "Java Technology" for any particular purpose

It does suggest they are aware of Java's shortcomings

reminds me of jslint

author added "must be used for good, not evil" to the license

...and IBM asked for an exception.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSLint#License

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5138866

note that restricting use of software makes it non-free gpl-wise.

RMS said the GPL does not restrict rights of the USER of software, just that when the software is redistributed, the rights are passed along.

Good old Douglas Crockford. He also put the "must be used for good, not evil" restriction on JSON, which he invented. Obviously JSON is used for all kinds of evil, though.

A much younger, more naive me (~20 years ago) actually emailed him to complain about the ambiguous terms and he replied saying something to the effect of "It's obviously unenforceable, get over it."

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