From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,897417b380f5731e X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: "Marin D. Condic" Subject: Re: STL, Ada, C++ (Was Re: The Next Microsoft?) Date: 2000/05/09 Message-ID: <39188264.C0C1DA08@quadruscorp.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 621221626 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit References: <8eg37k$15n$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <8epkoa$b8b$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <8eu0ob$7qv$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <391328F0.1221@synquiry.com> <39133213.64A@Ganymede.com> <8f50hc$hpo$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <8f5u58$3lu$1@wanadoo.fr> <39182AB3.45A63919@quadruscorp.com> <8f92io$3s$1@nnrp1.deja.com> Organization: Quadrus Corporation X-Sender: "Marin D. Condic" (Unverified) X-Server-Date: 9 May 2000 18:28:42 GMT Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Mime-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 2000-05-09T18:28:42+00:00 List-Id: 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 -- ====================================================================== Marin David Condic - Quadrus Corporation - http://www.quadruscorp.com/ Send Replies To: m c o n d i c @ q u a d r u s c o r p . c o m Visit my web site at: http://www.mcondic.com/ "I'd trade it all for just a little more" -- Charles Montgomery Burns, [4F10] ======================================================================