Observations about the software industry today
Sometimes I think that the movie Conspiracy Theory should have been about the software industry today. What has become of it lately? Here is what I believe:
· I believe the Anti-Virus companies write all the viruses.
· I believe most software is way over priced.
· I believe we now alpha test software for vendors
· I believe we beta test when service pack 1 comes out.
· I believe 1.0 is not the standard to avoid, RTM (release to manufacturing/gold code) is.
· I believe we get the final, ready for the world product when service pack 2 comes out.
· I believe most software has too many features for 98% of the users.
· I believe all the added features cause 100% of the problems with software today.
· I believe it is better to update software then to design it properly to begin with.
· I believe we, the paying consumer, don’t complain enough so things are only going to continue to get worse.
· I believe you pay 10 times the cost of software in support costs and lost productivity when it does not function properly out of the box.
· I believe the world has become too computer savvy because of buggy software.
· I believe a computer should be just another asset at the office place, taken for granted like a stapler or pencil.
· I believe that a computer isn’t taken for granted because broken things always get attention and notice.
· I believe release dates are based upon dates on PowerPoint slides, not when the product is anywhere near being ready or bug free.