Joe
Malfunction is difficult to measure really. You have to take many things into account:
- Some malfunctions are due to misuse by the user. I tinker a lot with my computers, it is normal that my computers constantly have problems. (On a totally unrelated subject I just fixed a 3 month old sound problem on my HP. Yay me ^^)
- Some malfunctions are purely software. How much is it the manufacturer's fault? A slight misconfiguration of your operating system can cause errors on your whole system. How liable are manufacturers for not supporting exotic systems (like Haiku for instance. I never managed to make it fully work. On any machine I tried). This argument is not valid for Macs, since the same company provides the hardware and the software and therefore endorses full responsibility of having them work together.
- Some power users can solve common issues fairly easily. A lot of us here know how to fix sound issues, bad resolution, no wifi connectivity, hardware issues, ... And some people are completely clueless, and start panicking as soon as the first error message appears. If the sound goes away from my computer I will fix it. If the sound goes away from my mom's laptop, it will be a "malfunction". So how do we define a "malfunction" really?
I guess the only real malfunction we can measure are the cases where the hardware is completely broken, due to a "normal" use. If you try to overclock your CPU and it burns, is it a malfunction? Also I know that manufacturer add their own bits of software to the system they sell. Even on proprietary software (like Windoz - thank God they don't do that on my Linux box. Oh wait, that's right, they don't even sell them with Linux, those bastards...). Anyway, if HP adds some software to my system and the systems becomes faulty because of it, then it is definitely HP's fault and should be considered as a "malfunction". But if I go around entering "sudo rm -rf /" and then go crying because my system is not working anymore, than who's fault is it, really?
My 2c.
Joe
Another thing, but that's fairly taken into account by the study, are "accidental" malfunctions. If I drop my computer on the floor, it's not the manufacturer fault's now, is it?
Although, Apple showed great reactivity to such issues when they created their awesome magnetic power cable. But then they went and patented it, and don't get me started on that ...
