The software death cycle

Some aspects of software quality have been fairly well explored-particularly those that pertain to the development phase. Other aspects, notably the measurement of the cost of keeping operational software in line with customer requirements, have received considerably less attention. The paper explores this area by proposing a means of assessing the ownership cost of such software. It shows how this may be used as a basis for deciding when a software system becomes obsolescent and should, on economic grounds, be retired from use