Formal methods for the masses

Software product line engineering has brought the mass customization paradigm from manufacturing to the software industry, bearing the promise of delivering individualized software products quickly and at a low unit cost. Although many companies have already successfully achieved this objective, major challenges are still ahead. I will focus on a pressing open issue: effective quality assurance of software product lines. I will provide an overview of the recent progress made in providing sound mathematical foundations to product line verification, and in developing proof-of-concept techniques and tools. I will then elaborate on a tentative research agenda for the years to come, highlighting the main fundamental and practical obstacles yet to overcome. Hopefully, when this agenda is realized, efficient and seamless tools for verifying mass-customized software will be available to the masses.