25 years of software maintenance

2009 marks the 25
^th
edition of the IEEE International Conference on Software Maintenance (ICSM). This special panel session celebrates ICSMs silver anniversary and the people who helped create and shape its history. From the pioneering efforts of the first workshop to todays weeklong series of federated events, many things have changed over the years. But at least one thing remains constant: the original goal of creating a supportive environment for fostering the exchange of ideas and information related to the disciplined maintenance and evolution of large-scale software-intensive systems.