Taking a Hard Look at Software (int'l edition)

It looks as if you have been spin-doctored with the latest public relations (''Software Hell,'' Special Report, Dec. 6). The funny thing is that, 20 years ago, artificial intelligence was going to write software. Then it was genetic algorithms that were going to do it. That said, your report was on the mark, especially the part on software quality.

James Litsios
Zug, Switzerland


You reported that ''of the world's 12 software houses that have earned the highest rating from the Software Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, seven are in India.'' There are at least 16, if not more, SEI level 5 (the highest rating). There are many more software organizations in India, many of them in Bangalore alone, that are awaiting assessment from SEI.

Even more significant, IBM's win in India is the second IBM operation outside the U.S. to achieve this status.

Deepak Kumar
Bureau Chief
Express Computer
Indian Express Newspapers Ltd.
Bangalore


In ''Should Windows be wide open'' (Technology & You, Dec. 6), you assert that publishing Microsoft Corp.'s Windows source code could encourage competition in the applications market and that this action would result in software improvement. This sort of thinking is the reason why you are reporting on ''Software Hell'' (Special Report, Dec. 6). Access to source code is required because the application program interfaces (APIs) are inadequately documented. A good API provides a service without the user needing to know anything about the implementation. If you have access to the source code, it is likely that you will rely on the implementation, even though it is not guaranteed to be stable. This can result in chaos.

It is time the software industry grew up and learned disciplines that have been commonplace in automotive, electrical, and semiconductor engineering for many years. We need to adopt the principle that if you open the box, you invalidate the guarantee. This is the way out of software hell.

David Sprott
London