For the past 40 years, the techniques, processes and methods of software development have been dominated by supply-side issues, giving rise to a software industry oriented towards developers rather than users. To achieve the levels of functionality, flexibility and time to market required by users, a radical shift is required in the development of software, with a more demand-centric view leading to software which will be delivered as a service within the framework of an open marketplace. Already, there are some signs that this approach is being adopted by industry but in a very limited way. We summarise research and a research method which has resulted in a long-term strategic view of software engineering innovation. Based on this foundation, we describe more recent work, which has resulted in an innovative demand-side model for the future of software. We propose a service architecture in which components may be bound instantly, just at the time they are needed -- and then the binding may be discarded. A major benefit of this approach is that it leads to highly flexible and agile software, that should be able to meet rapidly changing business needs. 1.

The literature on electronic commerce (EC) and electronic marketplaces has long recognized the importance of different kinds of intermediaries and the different functions they serve [5]. The Internet is most often discussed in connection with digital intermediaries [76], as the displacement of traditional intermediaries. In this research, we propose a new conceptual framework for understanding how competition in business-tobusiness (B2B) EC in the presence of information technology (IT) innovations changes firm-level strategy choices and the structure of the marketplace. We also identify and discuss the economic forces that lead to these changes. In this context, we further describe a recurring pattern of intermediation, disintermediation and reintermediation through an "IDR framework." We also explain the impetus for technological reintermediation, where a disenfranchised traditional player is able to compete again, by leveraging technological innovations with co-specialized assets. W...

There is an urgent industrial need for new approaches to software evolution that will lead to far faster implementation of software changes. For the past 40 years, the techniques, processes and methods of software development have been dominated by supplyside issues, and as a result the software industry is oriented towards developers rather than users. Existing software maintenance processes are simply too slow to meet the needs of many businesses. To achieve the levels of functionality, flexibility and time to market of changes and updates required by users, a radical shift is required in the development of software, with a more demand-centric view leading to software which will be delivered as a service, within the framework of an open marketplace. Although there are some signs that this approach is being adopted by industry, it is in a very limited and restricted form.

This paper presents a synthetic framework identifying the central drivers of start-up commercialization strategy and the implications of these drivers for industrial dynamics. We link strategy to the commercialization environment – the microeconomic and strategic conditions facing a firm that is translating an “idea ” into a value proposition for customers. The framework addresses why technology entrepreneurs in some environments undermine established firms, while others cooperate with incumbents and reinforce existing market power. Our analysis suggests that competitive interaction between start-up innovators and established firms depends on the presence or absence of a “market for ideas. ” By focusing on the operating requirements, efficiency, and institutions associated with markets for ideas, this framework holds several implications for the management of high-technology entrepreneurial firms.

We are grateful to the editors and to Richard Nelson for useful comments on earlier drafts. 1 1.

The need to change software easily to meet evolving business requirements is urgent, and a radical shift is required in the development of software, with a more demand-centric view leading to software which will be delivered as a service, within the framework of an open marketplace.

Two studies from 2000-2001 – in U.S. and Denmark – have revealed that the nature of IS development has changed with the coming of Internet Speed. It may not be a revolution, but it is definitely and distinctively different. The new kind of methodology implements amethodical emergent systems development as a new package of practices. Systems are continually growing to adapt to emergent organizations where requirements are fluid, architecture and components are key, and maintenance never rises as a concern. 1.

The lexicon of information warfare (IW), or cyberwar, to use a common variant, has been around for more than two decades (Adams, 1998), but for most of that time it has remained the preserve of the defense community. Within the cloistered world of the Pentagon and its satellite communities, a radically new concept of postindustrial warfare has crystallized, one that is designed to ensure continued U.S. military dominance in the post-Cold War era. There exists an extensive literature on information warfare theory and practice, much of which is in the public domain (De Landa, 1991; Libicki, 1995; Schwartau, 1996; Denning, 1999). Predictably, the prevailing language, images, and metaphors are classically militaristic in character, blurring the fact that many of the underpinning principles and assumptions have application well beyond conventional military contexts. This privileging of military thinking is myopic. Information warfare concepts deserve to be liberated from their military associations and introduced into other discourse communities concerned with understanding the social consequences of pervasive computing. Already, the principles and practices of information warfare are being exhibited, more or less wittingly, in a variety of civilian contexts (from computer-based fraud to cyberstalking), and there are good grounds for assuming that this trend will intensify, causing potentially serious social problems and creating novel challenges for the criminal justice system. To paraphrase a well-worn cliché, information warfare is too important to be left to the military.

We have benefited greatly from the assistance of many persons in preparing this study. We thank James

The diffusion of new technologies is their adoption by different economic agents at different times. A classical concern in the diffusion of technologies (Griliches 1957) is the importance of raw technical progress versus economic forces. We examine this classical issue in a modern market, web browsers. Using a new data source, we study the diffusion of new browser versions. In a second analysis, we study the determination of browser brand shares. Both analyses let us examine the important of technical progress vs. economic forces. We find that the critical economic force was browser distribution with a complementary technology, personal computers (PCs). In both of our analyses, distribution had a larger effect on the rate and direction of technical change than technical browser improvements. This shows an important feedback. Widespread use of the Internet spurred rapid expansion of the PC market in the late 1990s. Our results show that the rapid expansion in PCs in turn served to increase the pace of diffusion of new browsers and thus move the economy toward new mass market commercial Internet use.