For commercial software sold in the general marketplace, many software-planning and design decisions are based not only on meeting user needs but also on various marketplace issues. Many of these issues fall into one of three standard ROI categories: revenue, cost, and risk. For revenue, market share and market size play against one another, but the major considerations are increasing value (and extracting that value through pricing strategies) and minimizing the customer’s cost structure. Manipulating the supplier’s cost structure depends on the method of software distribution, the management of recurring costs (such as maintenance), and software reuse. Software development always entails a risk that actual revenues and costs might deviate from plan. The most effective way to manage this risk is an integrated approach at the project, organizational, and industry levels through decision techniques, management of intellectual property, investment diversification, and industry cooperation.

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Is open source a vital step in moving software engineering from art to science? Or does it fail to meet the needs of nonprogrammer users and organizations? These authors debate where open source is, where it’s going, and whether it can deliver what’s promised.