Editing Feature creep (section)

==Consequences==

===Expansion of scope===
Occasionally, uncontrolled feature creep can lead to products that surpass the scope of what was originally intended; this is known as [[scope creep]]. A common consequence of feature creep is the delay or cancellation of a product, which may become more expensive than was originally intended.{{citation needed|date=October 2012}}

===Delays===
Often, a reasonably feature-complete software project, or one with moderate amounts of feature creep, can survive and even thrive through many iterations, but its successor release may suffer substantial delays once a decision is taken to rewrite the whole code base in addition to introducing new technologies. For example, Microsoft's [[Windows Vista]] was planned to be a minor release between [[Windows XP]] and its successor codenamed [[Windows "Blackcomb"]] (released as Windows 7), but after adapting more and more features from Blackcomb (many of which were eventually cancelled), Vista turned out to become a major release which took five years of development.

A similar fate was suffered by [[Netscape 6]], which was originally supposed to be [[Netscape 5]]. The 1998 decision by Netscape Communications to open-source its Netscape Navigator browser and Communicator Internet suite (both code-named Mozilla) soon made it obvious that the underlying code was too difficult, and required a complete rewrite of Mozilla, which fostered the creation of the [[Mozilla application framework]]. This caused significant delays, Netscape 5 was skipped, and the company was purchased by AOL. The subsequent release of Netscape 6.00 in 2000 was widely criticized as alpha-level code, and the project reached stability by Netscape 6.1 in 2001, three years after the decision to rework the Internet suite. By that time, Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser had long-eclipsed Netscape in usage share, which had diminished to single digits.

Even after reaching stability and attaining some necessary new features, the open-source [[Mozilla Application Suite]] (then named just Mozilla), on which AOL built Netscape, was viewed as "[[Software bloat|bloated]]". Just a year later, a group of Mozilla developers decided to separate the browser component, which eventually became [[Firefox]].

Double Fine Adventures' [[Kickstarter]] project ''[[Broken Age]]'' is another example of a project being delayed by feature creep. Originally supposed to have a release date of October 2012, the first half of the game was released in January 2014 while the second half followed late April 2015, and required two separate funding rounds to complete.<ref>[https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/double-fine-splits-i-broken-age-i-in-half-to-fund-completion Double Fine splits Broken Age in half to fund completion], By Kris Ligman, 2013-07-02, Gamasutra</ref>

===Feeping creaturism===
Feature creep combined with short deadlines will often lead to a [[Hack (computer science)|"hacky solution"]]. The desired change may be large enough to warrant a redesign of the existing project foundation, but deadline pressure instead requires developers to rush and put out a less-refined product. The [[spoonerism]] "feeping creaturism" was coined to emphasize a developer's dislike of this situation,<ref>[http://foldoc.org/feeping+creaturism feeping creaturism], 2016-05-27, FOLDOC.org - The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing</ref> personifying the scope-crept product as "a misshapen creature of hacks ... prowling about in the dark",<ref name="JF fc1">{{cite web |title=feeping creaturism |work=The Jargon File |version=Ver. 4.4.7 |date=December 29, 2003 |first1=Eric S. |last1=Raymond |display-authors=etal |url= http://catb.org/jargon/html/F/feeping-creaturism.html |access-date=June 20, 2017}}</ref> and the harbinger of more creep to come.<ref name="JF fc2">{{cite web |title=feeping creature |work=The Jargon File |version=Ver. 4.4.7 |date=December 29, 2003 |first1=Eric S. |last1=Raymond |display-authors=etal |url= http://catb.org/jargon/html/F/feeping-creature.html |access-date=June 20, 2017}}</ref> ("Feeping" is a jargon synonym of "beeping".)<ref name="JF f">{{cite web |title=feep |work=The Jargon File |version=Ver. 4.4.7 |date=December 29, 2003 |first1=Eric S. |last1=Raymond |display-authors=etal |url= http://catb.org/jargon/html/F/feep.html |access-date=June 20, 2017}}</ref>