Adaptive software systems and their challenges - Part I

There are different challenges posed by different software executing environments. As the technology advances, the computer is no longer something that you see in your office desk. It can be varied from your mobile to a something distributed along the network. Or may a teeny tiny chip, which can be stored anywhere. And software is not something that ready to do your work once you install it using a wizard. The traditional definitions and methodologies are demolishing so as the traditional software designs. Just like the human beings trying to adapt to the changing environments software itself needed to be adapted. The adaptation is a sign of survival. Just like humans trying to survive in different weather conditions, software systems too need to survive in different environments. For example a system installed in your car or the mobile need to sense the changing environment and adjust itself to suite the changes without dieing.
So what are the challenges faced by different categories of systems when it comes to adaptation? What are the challenges in designing such systems? Following is a brief of such challenges categorized in terms of different types of software systems.