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GCN Home > 12/13/04 issue

Making software that’s immortal

By Joab Jackson, GCN Staff

How long should an agency use a piece of software? Dan Bricklin, co-inventor of the first electronic spreadsheet program, thinks applications should last for centuries. Last summer, Bricklin wrote an essay about this idea called “Software That Lasts 200 Years,” which was widely discussed within the IT industry.

In IT circles, the notion of extending software longevity borders on heresy, given how companies thrive on rapid obsolesce and regular upgrade cycles. Still, Bricklin has argued, as electronic data becomes more central to our daily lives, the tools to manipulate that data are much like the roads, bridges and buildings we use every day. As such, he maintains, software should be commissioned and maintained in much the same way.

Bricklin knows a thing or two about software. In 1979 he co-developed VisiCalc while he was a student at Harvard Business School. Although Lotus 1-2-3 eventually eclipsed VisiCalc in the marketplace, Bricklin has continued to work in the field, both as a consultant and a software developer. In 1985 he formed his own company, Software Garden Inc. of Newton Highlands, Mass., which he still runs today.

Bricklin holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a master’s degree in business from Harvard University. Staff writer Joab Jackson interviewed Bricklin by phone.

GCN: Why is it important for agencies to begin thinking about developing systems that can last hundreds of years?

BRICKLIN: A change has occurred, which is part of [the evolution of] e-government. Citizens expect having access to all the old data and having real-time access to data.

That wasn’t the case in the old days. Then, you’d have someone go look it up. If you had to get data from more than one department, you’d have to make separate searches. Nowadays you expect to get all the records and have them integrated. It’s not the same thing as when we had paper backups and the software was just a tool to help us. Software and electronic data is the only way today.

The government is a long-term entity that works on the behalf of society. We expect the government to provide deeds and records and laws. Those are long term.

More news on related topics: E-Government, Enterprise Architecture