

The 100-Year Software Application - Baustin
http://blog.smartbear.com/software-quality/bid/167046/The-100-Year-Software-Application

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politician
I have an acquaintance who works in the Gulf of Mexico anchoring platforms to
the sea floor. They rate their anchors by the size of the storms they're
engineered to withstand - a 10 year storm, a 100 year storm, etc. It's more
difficult and correspondingly more expensive to place a "100 year storm"
anchor. It's hard to argue with the reality that not all jobs require "100
year storm" anchors.

Arguing that software engineering is different is a result of inexperience.
Not everything we build needs a "Rolls Royce" level of polish or a "Golden
Gate Bridge" level of reliability nor is it a sustainable approach. Economic
realities will drag your architecture astronauts back to Earth.

Spend time understanding the needs of your critical infrastructure and design
for that.

~~~
fusiongyro
The message I got from this article is that there is something deeply
satisfying about doing "100 year storm" work, not than that it is economically
feasible or wise. The reference to woodworking and how unprofitable it is
seems to imply that it is inherently uneconomical.

Not everything we build needs "Rolls Royce" level of polish, but it might be
nice to build a few things to that level of polish. Compared to the amount of
code that is being written, vanishingly little of it, if any, is really being
built to stand the test of time, even if it is being built to very high
standards.

~~~
ohjeez
I'm the author of that post. And I certainly did not mean to imply that
100-year-furniture is not economical! It costs more in the short-term (for
instance, the Stickley couch I bought was $6,000), but I know it'll last for
decades, so I don't begrudge a cent of that expense. Especially since it's so
gosh-durn beautiful and comfortable and does exactly what I want -- just as
good software does.

~~~
fusiongyro
I'm sorry for both misunderstanding and misrepresenting your argument. I'll
have to give a proper response some thought.

~~~
ohjeez
Thank you for such a gracious reply! In turn, I should apologize for writing
something that could so easily be misinterpreted.

~~~
fusiongyro
Oh hardly!

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showerst
I think a big part of this is that business requirements for software tend to
change pretty quickly; where the requirements for physical things don't.

A desk from 1900 almost exactly fits the requirements for a desk in 2013
(other than what's in style, and the 'timeless' look often works). Even the
'foundational' software and reports in a business have to change due to the
market and goals of the business evolving.

~~~
biofox
Antique desks don't have cable holes or filing drawers, but they're still
desirable for their robustness and elegance. A similar statement could be made
for UNIX utilities.

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pnathan
I'm pretty sure that emacs and vi(m) fit into this category, as do a number of
unix command line tools (wc, cat, grep). Outside of that... heh... I hope most
of the drek out there is replaced.

~~~
edwinnathaniel
Eclipse exists since 2001/2002 and still one of the most popular IDE. I don't
think Eclipse is going to go anywhere in the next 10 years.

Emacs/Vim definitely exist longer but Eclipse is joining the ranks.

~~~
sukuriant
Would you say the same about Visual Studio? Netbeans? These have had longer
tenure than Eclipse.

What makes emacs/vim longer-lasting to me is their reach across platforms
_and_ their simplicy of interface. When a new interface comes out, they just
plug in to the old terminal emulator that's already stood the test of 30ish
years...

~~~
ctdonath
Visual Studio, Netbeans, Eclipse, etc. get frequent updates. They get replaced
on a regular & frequent basis with something similar. It's not "hundred year
furniture", it's replacing the sofa every year with a new sofa featuring
better upholstery, stronger joints, and better stain resistance. Might be the
same general design, made by the same manufacturer, but it's not the same
instance of "sofa".

It's the emacs/vim example which is more applicable. The core code hasn't
changed for a very long time. The facade may change, but the operation behind
that interface is unchanged.

Methinks the article refers more to deliver once, update never, restart never,
crashing intolerable. Having a pacemaker makes one keenly aware of the
difference: just a battery replacement (4-8 years) is a major undertaking,
deliberate restarts are avoided and undertaken with grave care, and crashing,
well, I wouldn't notice that problem for long.

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alexkus
There are a few source files in one of our applications[1] that have last
modified dates back in 1994.

1\. Mostly C application that's had >$1bn in sales over the years, but it's
been in active development/enhancement since 1992. My oldest contribution to
it is probably 1997.

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FollowSteph3
Certain types of solutions are more likely to last. For example an iPhone app
is not likely to still be used in 100 years but say a core compression
algorithm could.

Basically UI centric solutions have a shorter span on average than Algorithms
to complex problems.

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theorique
_Most serious woodworkers talk about creating "100-year furniture." You won't
get rich as a custom woodworker, but you can be reasonably sure that the table
you built will be used by the grandchildren of the client for whom you build
it today._

I read someone's comment on IKEA furniture recently: "you are buying furniture
that you and your descendants will use for _hundreds of days_ "

~~~
jfoutz
I would guess it varies with model. The Poang chairs are afaict flagship
products. Mine are about a decade old now, but replaced the cushions once. I
have to retighten the bolts every couple of years. I can imagine kids breaking
them from being dumb, but from ordinary (daily) use, they don't seem any worse
for wear.

~~~
theorique
I busted a Poäng chair once - the wood of the vertical pieces closest to the
floor split and I fell backwards.

However, I think was quite a few years old and a floor model, so who knows
what abuse it was subjected to in the store.

Supposedly, Ingvar Kamprad has a 30+ year old Poäng.

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utopkara
Businesses are more like software than furniture are. The Japanese hotel,
Hoshi Ryokan, that is still run by the same family over 1300 years must have
some really good "software".

~~~
utopkara
Here's the list of oldest companies to get inspiration from:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies>

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rumcajz
I was using troff yesterday. The technology dates back to '60s and is still
widely used.

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kawera
Dan Bricklin wrote a very nice article on the subject:
<http://changethis.com/manifesto/show/6.200YearSoftware>

