second-system effect

2 definitions found

second-system effect - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  second-system effect
  
     (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.  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.
  
     [Jargon File]
  

second-system effect - Jargon File (4.4.4, 14 Aug 2003) :

  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....