Certainly this
isn’t the full encapsulation of the economics of software development,
but it certainly is the portion that we developers are most likely to
see clearly.  I know that I was in the “bug free product” mindset
when I first start developing.  Unfortunately I didn’t have any
people around me who could clearly explain the fact that some bugs
shouldn’t be dignified by being fixed.  Yah it’s nice to be able
to claim that you produce bug free software, but if you walk around
stating this fact with a straight face you most certainly are living in
Wonderland.  This comment
by Jonathon Gibb states it at the root.  When you think you have
no bugs, it’s time to rework your test scripts, look harder or learn
more about how your users are using the software.