The Services Paradigm: Who Can You Trust?

Today, the difference between software and services is murky in the wake of a new trend: the blending of physical and nonphysical systems. This new view of services is distinct in that it incorporates software (nonphysical), hardware (physical), and environment (physical and nonphysical). In this paper, with respect to software services, the trust in the old fashioned way is viewed: "assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something", which is very important in this new services economy and with new services technologies

Nonphysical Systems

When considering the nature of software systems, except for the underlying hardware, it's difficult to find anything physical about them. Services, processes, and software are examples of nonphysical systems. Because they are nonphysical, it's difficult to find models that can be trusted for predictions concerning the behaviors of services and software, and the results of processes.