Decoding INABIAF

Used to be, in the realm of software, that bugs would turn out to be features in disguise. Nowadays it’s the other way around: features are revealed to be bugs. As part of Wired‘s 25th anniversary celebration, I have a piece on the history of the catchphrase “it’s not a bug, it’s a feature.” A taste:

A quick scan of Google News reveals that, over the course of a single month earlier this year, It’s not a bug, it’s a feature appeared 146 times. Among the bugs said to be features were the decl...