| A study of the effects of Department of Defense regulation and standardization on military software development programs including recent attempts to decrease these levels of regulation and standardization was presented. This study analyzed how the Department of Defense, in reaction to chaotic early military procurement, directed the entire development process for computer hardware, firmware, and software, including precisely defining what computing equipment and software was to be developed, how it was to be developed, tested, and documented, and how it was to be maintained after deployment. This study attempted to determine if the recent Department of Defense directives requiring the use of off-the-shelf software whenever practical and the cancellation of hundreds of Military Standards and Military Specifications was a wise and prudent course of action in an attempt to expedite software development schedules, lower software development costs and hasten the incorporation of rapidly evolving commercial software.; This study explored the potential benefits and detriments of off-the-shelf software based on how well it satisfies and promotes configuration management, portability, humancomputer interface, security, reliability, maintainability, testability, warranty, guarantee, documentation, validation, and verification through all phases of the software life-cycle. |
