QW2000 Paper 2A2 Mr. Juichi Takahashi (Florida Institute of Technology) Is Special Software Testing Necessary Before Releasing Products to an International Market?

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Key Points

• Present methods of developing international software
• Present methods of testing international software.
• Present methods of organizing international developing and test team

Presentation Abstract

Today, software developed by North American companies is sold all over the world. These companies also already have the basic knowledge of how to develop international software, by accommodating the fact that there is a difference in European and American date formats,

Today, software developed by North American companies is sold all over the world. These companies also already have the basic knowledge of how to develop international software, by accommodating the fact that there is a difference in European and American date formats, currency symbols, and so on. Almost all basic knowledge of global software development can be understood by reading books from Lunde and Talor. Yet, we still run into trouble (or bugs) in Asian or European environments that isn't found in the North American market. Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on how you look at it), companies, which make the effort to develop for the international market, have acquired a great volume of sales through that international market. For instance, Microsoft gets around 50% of their sales from products sold in the international market.

Through my 6 years working for international software testing, I have had plenty of experience in software development for the international market, mostly obtained by trial and error, and feedback from unsuccessful projects. I am writing this paper to help others avoid making some of the same mistakes I made.

Outline

A. Is Special Software Testing Necessary before Releasing Products to an International Market?
B. Differences between English software and Globalized Software
    1. Quality Requirements
    2. Cultural, Geographical
C. Typical Issues 
    1. Double byte and Single Byte
    2. Unicode (ISO 10646)
    3. Keyboard
D. International-Specific Software Testing
    1. Library, OS, Component
    2. Test Pass
    3. Double Byte and Extended Byte Checking
    4. Domain Test
    5. Keyboard
    6. Font checking
    7. Compatibility with local hardware
E. Testing Process for International Software
    1. Organize an International Test Team
    2. Project Control
    3. Cost Estimation
    4. Scheduling

About the Author

Juichi Takahashi is master degree candidate of Software Engineering at the Florida Institute of Technology. He worked at Microsoft in both the U.S.A. and in Japan for 8 years as Software Test Lead. He contributed to testing Far East products during his Microsoft days. It follows that his interests include software testing and international software development.