Chapter 10, Problem 10.1E

Program Plan Intro

Software Dependability:

Software dependability is a measure of software’s availability, reliability, and its maintainability, and maintenance support performance and characteristics such as durability, safety and security.

Explanation of Solution

Importance of software dependability:

Software dependability is a measure of software’s availability, reliability, and its maintainability, and maintenance support performance and characteristics such as durability, safety and security.

A complex organization design that recognizes the interaction between technology and people and is not limited only to software is known as socio-technical system.

Software dependability is most important in socio-technical system because of the following reasons:

• Unreliable software is liable to be discarded by users: Users May not use the system if they don't trust it.
• System failure costs may be enormous: System failure may lead to a loss of business.
• Unreliable systems may cause information loss: An undependable system may damage its external environment.
• An undependable system may lose or damage valuable data.
• Unreliable systems are difficult to improve: The reputation of the company who produced the system may suffer.
• Inefficiency is predictable:  Software that is unreliable can have hidden errors which can violate system and user data without warning and whose consequences are not immediately obvious and the system may be in a breach of laws of consumer protection.