The Software Crisis A Report from 1979

The Chaos Report A series of reports issued by The Standish Group, an industry analysis firm Classifies software projects into 3 classes: ̵ Successful: all features within time and budget constraints ̵ Challenged: late, over budget, and/or with reduced functionality ̵ Canceled before completion or never used Debatable whether this reflects what the industry considers success

The Chaos Report First report in 1994: ̵ 16% of projects successful ̵ 53% of projects challenged ̵ 31% of projects canceled Several reports since then with fluctuating numbers, but general improvement 2015 update (worse than some previous years): ̵ 29% of projects successful ̵ 52% of projects challenged ̵ 19% of projects canceled

Fast Forward to The Risks digest

12/9/14: international study: 60% of apps fail basic privacy tests 24/2/14: Apple’s SSL does not check certificates 18/9/13: UK National Health Services new IT system is a failure, cost is 6.4 billion pounds, or maybe actually 9.8 billion, or more… 22/8/13: NASDAQ stock market down for 3 hours because of software problems 11/1/13: IBM’s Watson computer natural language facility starts using “bullshit” in answers to queries.

BUT… Software Magazine Software 500 report

Software : 17% Revenue Growth More than 1.6 million employees in system integration services and IT services/consulting; Software 500 employment up 9% to 4.5 million. Overall growth for the Software 500 companies is up 17% from the past year, with 85% of companies reporting positive revenue Total 2012 Software 500 revenue is $643.6 billion, up from last year’s $549.3 billion. The total number of employees in the Software 500 was up 9% to 4,495,407, compared to 4,122,638 in last year’s survey.

Software : 4.5% Revenue Growth Total 2013 Software 500 revenue is $672.9 billion, up from last year’s $643.6 which was 17% above the $549.3 billion two years ago. The total number of employees in the Software 500 was up 9.5% to 4,924,121, compared to 4,495,407 in last year’s survey and 4,122,638 two years ago. 15% of companies and 45% of employees are in IT Consulting/Staffing, Outsourcing Services, and System Integration Services Average R&D investment was 12.7% of revenue Top 7 companies are IBM, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, Accenture, EMC, and SAP

Software : 7.1% Revenue Growth Total 2014 Software 500 revenue is $717.7 billion, up from last year’s $ The total number of employees in the Software 500 was down 1% to 4,884,000, after years of growth. Average R&D investment was 13.4% of revenue Top 7 companies are IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Accenture, Hewlett-Packard, EMC, and SAP