Software developers/designers expertise

Most Western software developers would support the principles of user-centred design [18] but underlying concepts and assumptions are derived from USA / Northern European cultures. It is inevitable that those tools and techniques which involve users the most would be those very techniques which were most sensitive to cultural issues. Up to now, both non-native and native personnel have practiced usability in India and China. However, with the growth of local usability expertise, the localization of usability practice is a necessary and inevitable trend. 

In 1983, I set up my own company P.S. Analytical. A broad range of analytical modules with hardware and software have been designed, developed and manufactured by the company and are sold internationally. The main expertise of P.S. Analytical is to research a problem and to provide, at an economic cost, a fully engineered solution for routine use. The company collaborates with other companies, with universities and with government laboratories. P.S. Analytical has exposed me to different areas of analytical chemistry and has allowed me to tackle many areas of analytical apphcation, for example types. I have been actively involved in all aspects of the automation, especially economics, philosophy and management. P.S. Analytical has flourished and increased its range of products from simple accessories to fully integrated instrumental systems, for example, the Merlin Plus Fluorescence system for the determination of ultra-trace levels of mercury. 

Apply vehicle systems analysis expertise and software tools to study the impacts of DOE component technology development programs and a variety of design scenarios... 

My first case also revealed another aspect of many corrosion investigations that is quite fascinating. It has to do with the complexity of the interactions that eventually culminate in a failure or a need to repair. The belief was widespread at the time that many of the corrosion problems could be alleviated with the help of well-designed and calibrated expert systems. In many countries the development of these systems was funded on the premise that these software tools would artificially improve the level of expertise of technical personnel. Of course, this optimistic view could not possibly consider many of the hidden factors that are behind many corrosion situations unreported system changes, rapid and frequent changes in technical personnel and many other factors that may remain invisibly at work on a micro scale for years before giving the final blow to a system. 

The UK MoD were, as one might e q)ect, pioneers in the use of critical software and the development of static analysis tools to analyse the code (Malpas) as well as forays into formally proven hardware designs. In the Ught of finding defects in certain operational systems, dramatic changes to the supply chain as well as reductions in MoD scientific persotmel, they responded in 1989 with the publication of a new draft interim standard 00-55 (MoD 1989). This used expertise from the nuclear and aerospace industry, MoD and elsewhere to develop a market leading standard around the requirements for mathematically formally verified software and statistical testing. 

Cost Versus Price. Finally, cost versus price is a special difficulty in the software field. The complexity of the front-end software is a major factor in the cost, in that more complex software needs to be more highly priced. It takes more work and expertise to develop and this makes it more useful. But, ironically, this complexity may not be apparent to the user especially in the best designed and most serviceable software By analogy, consider that when a system of the human body works well, you tend not to notice it. STN Express software is actually quite complicated programs that appear simple in their execution may have cost the developer months of programming, many thousands of lines of code, and hours of design and prototyping. And this must have some effect on the price. 

---