Characterizing the differences between pre- and post- release versions of software
Proceedings of the 33rd International Conference on Software Engineering
Predicting method crashes with bytecode operations
Proceedings of the 6th India Software Engineering Conference
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Assessing the reliability of mass-market software (MMS), such as the Windows® operating system, presents many challenges. In this paper, we share insights gained from the Windows Vista® and Windows Vista® SP1 operating systems. First, we find that the automated reliability monitoring approach, which periodically reports reliability status, provides higher quality data and requires less effort compared to other approaches available today. We describe one instance in detail: the Windows Reliability Analysis Component, and illustrate its advantages using data from Windows Vista. Second, we show the need to account for usage scenarios during reliability assessments. For pre-release versions of Windows Vista and Vista SP1, usage scenarios differ by 2-4X for Microsoft internal and external samples; corresponding reliability assessments differ by 2-3X. Our results help motivate and guide further research in reliability assessment.