Chapter 9, Problem 9.1E

Explain why a software system that is used in a real-world environment must change or become progressively less useful.

Explanation of Solution

Software system in a real world environment:

Software system used in a real world environment must change or become progressively less useful because of the following reasons:

• Software environment is constantly changing whether it's new requirements for a business, evolution of hardware or concurrent systems, any software will have to adaptive to those changes.
• The presence of the system changes the ways of working in its environment which generates new requirements and if these requirements are not satisfied, the usefulness of the system declines.
• If the software environment remains stagnant the software's performance, utility, or security might be compromised.
• For example, a university that is using an old CMS might see that their site reliability and usefulness to students decreases as the platform collects dust which becomes an issue for its users and students.
• The business in which the system is used changes in response to market forces and this also generates new system requirements.
• The external legal and political environment for the system changes and generates new requirements and new technologies become available that offer significant benefits and the system must change to take advantage of them.