SEVEN SOFTWARE COMPANIES ADDED TO ``WATCH LIST''

New York, NJ, Sept. 24 -- People for the Ethical Treatment of Software (PETS) announced today that seven more software companies have been added to the group's ``watch list'' of companies that regularly practice software testing.

``There is no need for software to be mistreated in this way so that companies like these can market new products,'' said Ken Granola, spokesperson for PETS. ``Alternative methods of testing these products are available.''

According to PETS, these companies force software to undergo lengthly and arduous tests, often without rest for hours or days at a time. Employees are assigned to ``break'' the software by any means necessary, and inside sources report that they often joke about ``torturing'' the software.

``It's no joke,'' said Granola. ``Innocent programs, from the day they are compiled, are cooped up in tiny rooms and `crashed' for hours on end. They spend their whole lives on dirty, ill-maintained computers, and are unceremoniously deleted when they're not needed anymore.''

Granola said the software is kept in unsanitary conditions and is infested with bugs.

``We know alternatives to this horror exist,'' he said, citing industry giant Microsoft Corp. as a company that has become extremely successful without resorting to software testing.

PETS is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of software programs and promoting alternatives to software testing.