On 12 Jul 2009 11:39:56 -0700, [email protected] (Bob Shannon) wrote:
>Well, what I know is that when companies built their own applications, they >talked about >gaining a competitive advantage. When's the last time anyone heard that? >When companies built their own applications, they could last twenty years or >more. >What's the life expectancy today? When companies built their own applications, >the applications did exactly what was required by the business instead of >requiring >the business to change to accommodate the software. Does one size really fit >all? There always have been compromises between what users think they want and what we could deliver. Then when we built systems to last 20 years or more - business needs changed and we tried, with limited success, to change as well. >Will we ever go back? Perhaps not, but outsourcing application development or >buying off the shelf software may be more fad than panacea. More likely it will be like buying anything else. There will be a fair amount of choice in buying a software package - as there is in buying a car or a delivery service or a printer. But the market for building a software package, a car, a delivery service, or a printer to meet our business needs is limited, considering the costs and benefits. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
