Software Streamlining: Reducing Software to Essentials

Abstract

Software products tend to become more sophisticated as they are actively maintained and used. While new software sophistication provides updated functionality, an undesired result of the expansion is the arrival of complicatedness. One obvious consequence of the new complicacy is an opportunity for new bugs. However, another often overlooked result is the increased difficulty of use and the greater demand for operational resources. It is also apparent that not all applications require all the features provided by software systems, and in many cases, only a small subset of features is ever used. With this in mind, this paper presents a development paradigm of taking an existing software product and streamlining it into a smaller and less complicated version, which provides only a useful subset of essential functionalities. To demonstrate this new workflow feasibility, the existing aerospace operating system RODOS is adapted it to a smaller and less complicated version. The results show it is possible to make software less complicated, easier to use, and improve resource economy.