Three notable researchers in the area of software development and maintenance wrote this paper, which provides an insightful and straightforward view of their emerging research and the current status of software maintenance processes in industry. Given that the development cost of software is far exceeded by the lifetime maintenance costs, it is curious that there is not more research and effort being spent in the area. The authors clearly understand the current state of the industry, particularly that the majority of software process work is being focused on aspects of the front end of developing software (before it is deployed). It is refreshing to see the degree of understanding of the maintenance area that the authors have, including knowledge of the software engineering body of knowledge (SWEBOK), International Organization for Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission (ISO/IEC) standards (such as ISO 9000), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) initiatives, the capability maturity model (CMM) and CMM integration (CMMI), and the current status of the simulation program with integrated circuits emphasis (SPICE).

As an update and refresher to prior published works about their research in the software maintenance area, the paper presents a thorough literature review about work to date, and reports that most of the work has focused solely on software development. Their literature search proved extensive, and illustrates that, while recent works update their earlier work, work still mainly focuses on software development rather than on maintenance. Also presented are works on software maintenance on a global scale, along with a discussion of how the lack of maintenance research creates an information gap--one that will be lessened considerably by the publication and advancement of the work on the software maintenance (SM) CMM.

Through their examination of the current state of the field, the authors established a solid foundation and rightfully concluded that the need for a solid SM CMM is critical. As a nonacademic, I also appreciated how the authors put the paper together in a well-organized way, making it easy to follow. Short and to the point, this paper is worthwhile for anyone interested in implementing best-practice processes specific to improving the quality of software maintenance. I, for one, look forward to continued updates in this area and to seeing a finalized SM CMM endorsed by the industry as a whole.

Overall, this was a worthwhile paper containing model information, together with two full pages of referenced published works. I recommend it to anyone wanting a review of the current state of software maintenance, as well to those seeking insight into the emerging and valuable work on the SM CMM.