Re: VA "drop dead" law

On Fri, 22 Apr 1994, Donald Berman wrote: ...
> The general movement against self help has many roots - not all of
> which are relevant to software. For example probibtions on repossession
> and evictions are often tied to a desire to prevent violent
...

In a non-violent way, the havoc wrecked by self-help in the software sense can have impact far greater than either the vendor or non-paying vendee deserves. Should a vendee be put out of business for failure to pay the software vendor? Or should records containing important information about third parties (vendee's clients/customers) be lost? Or should someone's kid be denied his/her video game. No to the first two. A definitie yes to the last. (Who says I have to be consistent?)

               "... CASE tools are like toothbrushes,
             that is, they're not meant to be shared ..."
         Yourdon, "Decline & Fall of the American Programmer"
Bruce M. Bertram                 bmb[_at_]netcom.com                408-739-9062