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> ... custom software is more than 90% of all software out there.

I've read this in several variations for years. But I've never seen a reference.

Is this just a myth or can anyone point to real research which provides evidence for the claim?

Without getting into statistically relevant data, of the hundreds of programmers I've met in my lifetime, at most a dozen worked on proprietary packaged software (game devs, more precisely). The rest did web sites, consultancy, customizations, everything that meant going to a customer and creating or changing something that was there to better fit a set of requirements.

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