Listen to Customer Cries, Before the Software dies

Abstract

The software marketplace is in a constant state of change with new and disruptive markets emerging while some traditional markets fall by the side. The software development market is also characterized by an irrevocable trend towards greater software complexity -- complexities that not only complicate the community of software developers but also create financial pressures on them as well as their customers. Software technology is changing at such a high rate that software bought this morning gets outdated by next evening. In such a scenario, many a times consumer of the product suffers for paying for an older software unknowingly. It suffers with the system when developer organization of such old systems stops providing technical supports on them stating that newer versions are available in the market to solve their problems and hence the customer should discard the system and purchase a new one. In this paper, the author proposes that software has finite lifetime regardless of its type and development platforms and it must be dismantled before it dies. The process of dismantling the software is treated as its retirement. Author brings into light the current poor scenario of software retirements and desires of consumer community in favor of code of ethics for software developing organizations.