238 ◾ Software Engineering: The Current Practice
teams specialize in servicing, and they take over when software moves into the
servicing stage.
15.3 Phaseout and Closedown
e phaseout is the next stage of the software life span. It is characterized by the
absence of new updates to the software. e customers use workarounds when they
encounter defects. e owners of the software may still provide help to the users,
and part of that help includes bulletins that describe recommended workarounds.
An example is a workaround for a security risk for an application that was issued
by Microsoft (2011).
e boundary between servicing and phaseout does not need to be abrupt;
management may gradually withdraw support from the software and limit serv