Trustworthy computing requires both trustworthy hardware and trustworthy software.
Originally, computer hardware manufacturers supplied application software, but they retreated from such offerings for fear of contingent liability.
This gave rise to the third-party software industry giving the user of enterprise software the choice of build or buy, or a combination of the two.
Microsoft, the dominant supplier of system and application software for desktop computers, has started a trustworthy computing initiative.
The Microsoft initiative focuses on security, privacy, reliability, and business integrity.
The development of enterprise application software has a long history of process management and improvement. More recently, it has seen the use of statistical process control technology.
Table 15.2 lists criteria for software performance measures, and Table 15.3 lists measurable attributes of the development process.
Consistent, measurable attributes allow the process to be controlled by statistical methods.
Statistical process control methods were developed for manufacturing process control, where they are used downstream to control process by feedback. Software development has no analog to manufacturing, so statistical methods must be pushed as far upstream in the design process as possible.
Current developments are pushing statistical process control methods into the architectural design stage of the development process.
Software developers have a wide variety of packaged statistical tools available to support the development process.
