Computers aren’t supposed to crash, but they do. But why does the software work just fine for your office mate? What’s going wrong when the software crashes?
The Bug Isolation Project is a research effort designed to answer these questions. We distribute specially modified versions of popular open source software packages. These special versions monitor their own behavior while they run, and report back how they work (or how they fail to work) in the hands of real users like you.
Each crash tells us a little bit more about how things can go wrong. When the software works just fine, that tells us how things are supposed to work. Thus, every time you use the software, you are helping us track down bugs. Even if you’ve never written a line of code in your life, you can help make things better for everyone simply by using our special bug-hunting packages.
The monitoring is transparent and low overhead; you should not notice any difference at all in application behavior or performance. Furthermore, the entire system is engineered to protect your privacy and ensure the security of the data we collect from start to finish.
All you need to do is install our software and you’re ready to go. You don’t need to be a programmer in order to participate. Just use your computer as you would normally. Our system will learn and find bugs over time, thanks to automatic feedback from you and a few thousand of your closest friends.
Not quite convinced? You may wish to learn more about the project or contact the project team before deciding. We do hope that you decide to join up: the Cooperative Bug Isolation Project can only succeed with help from users like you. You can make a difference!