Will software companies and perhaps even individual engineers one day be held accountable for egregious errors and poor development and testing methodologies?

In a way, I hope not. I don’t want creativity and innovation and all its necessary bleeding edges to be dulled for fear of attracting legal sharks. Yet at the same time, when tinkering becomes profession and cool creation becomes a critical set of business processes driving the world’s engines, I can imagine some sense of accountability enforced for the betterment of the craft and profession.