Software Cost Estimation in 2002

The first automated software cost estimation tools were developed independently by researchers in major corporations and military groups in the 1960s. Commercial software cost estimation tools began to be marketed in the 1970s. By 2002, about 50 commercial software cost estimation tools were marketed in the United States and another 25 in Europe. Although standard projects can now be estimated with fairly good accuracy, there are always new technologies that require improvements in estimating tools.