Xref: utzoo comp.object:3096 comp.software-eng:5301 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!igor!rutabaga!jls From: jls@rutabaga.Rational.COM (Jim Showalter) Newsgroups: comp.object,comp.software-eng Subject: Re: How to pay for reusable software Message-ID: Date: 10 Apr 91 01:42:52 GMT References: <1991Apr3.231849.13410@m.cs.uiuc.edu> Sender: news@Rational.COM Followup-To: comp.object Lines: 31 >The problem that I see is that there will be many areas where >it would be valuable for us to develop standard libraries of >software components, but there will be no economic incentives >to do so. Does anybody have any ideas on how to solve this >problem, whether it is a problem, or (better yet) references to >papers that discuss it? It's largely the same infrastructural defect that afflicts companies in other areas: short-term focus. Clearly it costs money up front to write reusable software, and yet, amortized over several projects, such an effort pays for itself. But if a company only thinks 3 months ahead, there is no basis for such multi-year payback. Consider a concrete example: every air traffic control system and every air defense system in the world does "track management" (a track is a flying object's trajectory over time). Every such project I've ever been involved with has rewritten track management from scratch (at best scavenging bits and pieces from other iterations). Yet, it is clearly a reusable--and quite large--chunk of the overall problem. A company that noticed this and put such things on a multi-year accounting basis could solve the track management problem once and for all, and realize significant savings over the medium to long term. A few companies have realized that reusable software (particularly application-specific stuff) can provide a competitive advantage, and have started to budget appropriately. I hope the trend continues. -- * The opinions expressed herein are my own, except in the realm of software * * engineering, in which case I borrowed them from incredibly smart people. * * * * Rational: cutting-edge software engineering technology and services. *