Re: STL, Ada, C++ (Was Re: The Next Microsoft?)

["Marin D. Condic" <mcondic-nospam@quadruscorp.com>]

Robert Dewar wrote:
> "I've heard" is remarkably weak authority even by the low
> standards of usenet groups. Really I think that posting such
> vague accusations is quite unhelpful without at least the
> semblance of authority. I am certainly the last person to
> accuse Microsoft of practicing state-of-the-art software
> engineering techniques in their software quality assurance
> and maintenance efforts, but I think a claim that they
> "generally don't maintain many applications" is not at all
> helpful.
> 
Do you really believe that there *aren't* a large number of applications
that are never maintained? :-)

Actually, it makes a lot of business sense. Why fix bugs on something
that you have to throw away anyway because you need a next generation
product that looks totally different? There's no profit in fixing bugs.
There *is* profit in coming out with a V2.0 that has all kinds of spiffy
new features.

As to the logical proof or forensic evidence or smoking gun or Rodney
King Videotape to back up my "I've heard" statement: Lots of folks post
things every day that are essentially hearsay. Is it useful or helpful?
Maybe. My point was that rectally extracting a number for cost of
maintenance (70% ???) is not very helpful unless you state the kind of
software that you're talking about and the environment in which it is
built. Some software is maintained for decades. (We can also argue about
what constitutes "maintenance" while we're at it. One man's
"maintenance" is another man's "spiral development") Other software is
built, smoke tested and put out for public consumption, never to be
revisited again. Maintenance costs as a percentage of total project
costs will vary quite a bit.

MDC
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Marin David Condic - Quadrus Corporation - http://www.quadruscorp.com/
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    --  Charles Montgomery Burns, [4F10]
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