total rewrite and the concept of software service

This is a very nice post from vikas: http://vikasnetdev.blogspot.com/2006/06/what-if-we-can-maintain-our-software.html

I thought about it recently also (http://survic.blogspot.com/2006/06/legacy-enhancement-development-why-and_06.html). However, I elaborated the “why” part only from individual developer’s perspective. Your blog reminded me to address the bigger picture.

I want to push your post “a little bit” further.

(1) Rewrite is always much more costly, and more importantly, much more risky (more than half will fail the first try).
(2) With good service, software can live forever -- it can even evolve, individually ;-)
(3) Combine the above two: “total rewrite” is a bad sign; it usually means the “car” is abused.
(4) Users depend on professionals to help them. Educated and informed decision is the norm; however, a lot of times, “let us sneak changes” is also necessary. It means a lot of responsibility, and requires real “fearless leaders”. It is sad that we see too much “total rewrite”, and too little “software service”.