second-system effect
:second-system effect: n. (sometimes, more euphoniously, `second-system
syndrome') When one is designing the successor to a relatively small,
elegant, and successful system, there is a tendency to become grandiose
in one's success and design an elephantine
feature-laden monstrosity.
The term was first used by Fred Brooks in his classic "The Mythical
Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering" (Addison-Wesley, 1975; ISBN
0-201-00650-2). It described the jump from a set of nice, simple
operating systems on the IBM 70xx series to OS/360 on the 360 series. A
similar effect can also happen in an evolving system; see {Brooks's Law}
}, creeping elegance
, creeping featurism
. See also Multics
,
OS/2
, X
, software bloat
This version of the jargon lexicon has been described (with altogether
too much truth for comfort) as an example of second-system effect run
amok on jargon-1....
Jargon File Version 4.3.1, 29 JUN 2001 =
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