Posted on May - 26 - 2011
So, who uses this stuff?
By know you should have a pretty good idea on what project software estimation is and how it works, but I bet you’re wondering just who uses software estimation. The blanket term, software estimation, is often applied to software which is so powerful that it can be used to ease otherwise cumbersome ordeals like estimating IT projects, or taking over the world. In these circumstances, software estimation helps prevents missteps that would cause a product to fall behind and thus not ship on time.
Ta-da!
But what else can project software estimation do? Could it, by chance, rock? You’re darn right it can. Both iTunes and the Zune packed a mild form of software estimation into their latest versions with the iTunes “Genius” and Zune’s “mixview”. How are these considered software estimation? We’ll, both programs take a look at the listeners current library and make recommendations based on what they already listen to. Pandora uses a similar tactic, but breaks down songs into their attributes, and then builds a radio station off of those shared attributes. Mog.com, a social network, finds friends and creates social networks based on the songs in a user’s library and how often they listen to them.
Of course, software estimation is used in a lot of other areas. Another term for software estimation is software recommendation. Basically anytime a computer recommends something for you – be it a product on Amazon.com or a website on Google, what happened in the background is some sort of software estimation.
This makes the answer to your question, well, most likely you.
