Solid funding, thorough testing, failover, and developer skill should always be prioritized in mission critical software-driven systems. There is tons of room for failure in complex solutions. There is also a growing trend in software being manipulated beyond it's actual functional purpose into other categories like generating up-sales, in app purchases, and to embedding advertising into key features... Corruption of software functionality is a key threat to software stability in mission critical software, and in systems that people truly depend on and if it's not addressed and regulated properly, it will spiral out of control in the future. This applies not just to mission critical systems, it applies to cell phones that you pay for, televisions and cars people buy as consumers, because they are often mission critical to us. With every single project, control, security, cost cutting, and tight delivery deadlines pose a constant threat to reliability and utility of all softwa...