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%\bibliographystyle{alpha}
\bibliographystyle{ieeetr}

\title{Impediments to the Software Reuse Industries}

\author{Richard L. Conn\\
\\
The MITRE Corporation\\
145 Wyckoff Road, Suite 201\\
Eatontown, NJ  07724\\
Telephone: (908)389-6762\\
FAX: (908)542-3679\\
Email: rconn@mitre.org\\
}
\date{}

\maketitle

\begin{abstract}

%{\bf This is subject to company approval.}
The software industry and the
reuse industry are facing far too many impediments
to become viable without better government support.  This support must
materialize in several areas: eliminating or better documenting
and controlling software patents, improving the national
information highway, establishing new laws to wisely protect the
free exchange of information between our universities, and reducing
barriers to trade, particularly export controls.  With these impediments,
far too much energy in the software industry as a whole is spent in
meeting the letter of the law and going to court.  This energy could be
better spent in producing new products and advancing the technology.

\vspace{0.2in}
\noindent
{\bf Keywords:} Software patents, Software reuse component industry,
Export controls, National Research and Education Network, Ada Software
Repository, Public Ada Library, information highway, freedom of exchange,
reuse economics

\vspace{0.2in}
\noindent
{\bf Workshop Goals:} Learning; networking; start promoting a correction to
the existing legislation pertaining to the software industry in the
United States in order to remove impediments to the operation of the
industry

\vspace{0.2in}
\noindent
{\bf Working Groups:} Reuse management, organization and economics; Education;
Reuse handbook

\end{abstract}

\newpage

\section{Background}

I have managed the Ada Software Repository (ASR)
on the Internet since November, 1984.
The ASR started as a voluntary activity, was funded by the DoD for six
years, and reverted to a voluntary activity.
I currently manage the Public Ada Library (PAL)
at Washington University in Saint
Louis, which I started in June, 1993.  The PAL is currently a voluntary
activity, but DoD funding is anticipated.
I have performed research in the broad
field of software reuse, including both the technical, political, and DoD
issues, for the MITRE Corporation.  I have authored a tutorial on software
reuse as a result of this research and am in the process of completely
documenting this research in a detailed paper.  I have developed
reusable components for both commercial and military
applications in Ada, C, and assembly language for over 10 years.  I have
developed reusable components in C++ for over 3 years.  I have authored a
book on the ASR and the Defense Data Network and several papers on
the ASR, reuse, object-oriented design, and software engineering.
I have taught
courses in software engineering, object-oriented programming, and
object-oriented design as an Adjunct Professor at the University of
Cincinnati (Ohio) and Monmouth College (New Jersey) for over 5 years.
I participated in the review of the document {\em Ada Quality and Style:
Guidelines for Professional Programmers} by the Software Productivity
Consortium.

\section{Position}

The laws pertaining to
software patents must be reworked extensively so the patents are clearly
understood.  The issuance of software patents, particularly for algorithms
and "look and feel" concepts
that can be readily rediscovered/invented, must be stopped or at least
more wisely controlled.  The ability to issue a patent on a well-known
algorithm that has been known to the public for some time must be
denied.  The patent approval
process, wherein it can take up to five years to issue a patent in an
industry that is evolving radically over the span of a single year, must
be replaced with something more timely and effective.  To spend years
working on a program only to find that it violates some patent that was
in the process while you were working on the program and could not possibly
have known about it is ridiculous.  It may be best to abolish the idea
of patenting software, using the copyright as the only means of
rights protection.  Copyrights on ``look and feel'' should not be allowed;
copyrights only on actual software source code should be allowed.

The national information highway is currently based on the Internet,
and efforts are underway to improve a portion of the Internet by
forming the NREN (National Research and Education Network).  Technical
barriers to making this happen are already overcome to a large extent.
Political barriers are far more difficult to overcome, particularly with
special interest groups lobbying in their own interests instead of in
the national interest.  Consequently, an industry-based reuse council and
an education program for Congress
must be set up to look out for the national interests and to keep Congress
informed of the issues.

A similar university-based council and education program for Congress
must be set up to look out for the national interests in terms of the
free exchange of information between our universities.

Too little attention is paid to the economics of software reuse,
and a "standard" economic model for software reuse should be developed.
The cost of reusing software must be less than the cost of developing
new software, but much of the reuse efforts today do not consider the
cost factor.

Finally, export controls placed on the software industry have been
ineffective and served mainly to hurt the software industry as opposed
to afford the protection they were originally intended to provide.
These export controls must be removed.

\section{Comparison}

Richard Stallman \cite{stallman92a,stallman92b} addressed several of
the copyright and
software patent issues.  I tend to agree with his perceptions, except
that they are somewhat extreme and the actual solution is probably something
somewhat more moderate.

The Central Archive for Reusable Defense Software
[cards93a] addressed many of the essential issues for implementing
reuse on the information highway.  The CARDS execution is lacking, however,
and many of the concepts promoted by the Public Ada Library \cite{conn93b}
should be used to augment the concepts of CARDS.

The Reuse Economics Model \cite{spc92a} of the SPC makes a good attempt at
defining an economic model for software reuse, but it is not complete.
The economic model presented by the author \cite{conn92a} is also incomplete.
Issues such as these models should be brought into the spotlight of the
reuse community and a viable ``standard'' model should be drafted.

\bibliography{conn}

\section{Biography}

{\bf Richard L. Conn} is a Member of the Technical Staff for the MITRE
Corporation, Eatontown, New Jersey, a Research Professor for Monmouth College,
West Long Branch, New Jersey, and a member of the Federal Advisory Board
for Ada, Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering.
He is performing research on software reuse and is developing Ada and C
source code analysis tools.  He teaches courses in Object-Oriented Design,
Software Tool Construction, and Software Engineering for Monmouth College.
Richard currently manages the Public Ada Library at Washington University
in Saint Louis.  He received a Master of Science in Computer Science from
the University of Illinois in 1978.

\end{document}
