In the past years significant progress was made with digital transmission of audiovisual services and most interesting trends are visible for the future. Such applications encompass interactive services, like videoconferencing, ISDN-videophone, storage of moving video and audio in computers or on CD, e.g. for multimedia applications. For distribution services, there is an unbroken trend from TV to HDTV. Strong emphasis is on compressed digital video even for transmission to the home.
In a free market, every demand will result in a supply. So, if everybody wants high quality software, why don't we have it? This article analyses the actual demand, and the expectations of producers and customers in the software market. Various aspects of software quality are discussed, and a taxonomy is provided (chapter 2). The actual need for high quality software, and the obstacles to producing it, are discussed in chapters 3 and 4. Chapter 5 addresses the relationship between price and quality. Finally, in chapter 6, the cultura] aspects of high quality are presented.
