On the fate of software enhancements

One of the most serious problems for vendors of software is pressure from users to enhance and extend their products. 1 One important type of enhancement is the change in language form aimed at improving user productivity by making the system easier to learn and use. Ideas for this sort of enhancement appear regularly in such publications as Sigplan Notices . As evidenced by the correspondence in that publication, there are many opinions on the quality of these proposals. However, little is known about the actual fate of enhancements that have been added to existing software systems and released to users. When a new feature is released with the best of intentions and the usual fanfare of documentation and instruction, its acceptance by programmers may have little to do with the sincerity of the request or the quality of the feature.