Originally posted by al_cam
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To quote Robert L. Glass:
It is almost always a mistake to modify packaged, vendor-produced software systems.
... With vendor-supplied software, there are typically rereleases of the product, wherein the vendor solves old problems, adds new functionality, or both. Usually, it is desirable for customers to employ such new releases...
The problem with in-house package modifications is that they must be redone with every such new release. And if the vendor changes the solution approach sufficiently, the old modification may have to be redesigned totally to fit into the new version. Thus modifying packaged software is a never-ending proposition, one that continues to cost each time a new version is used.
- Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering, 2003, p.53
(I don't know why Amazon have appended the words "Agile Software Development" to the title - they aren't on the book, and some parts of it are quite critical of certain aspects of Agile.)
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