When I started my first professional software development job in 1991, I got my very own, fairly large, office. I kept the door closed most of the time, and was very productive. This (having one's own office) continued in my career with various companies until I started my own software company in 1998, where I have continued the trend.<p>My point being that it <i>was</i> the norm for a long time to provide software developers their own office. I'm not sure when or why this stopped occurring, but it needs to be reversed for one simple reason: good, young, software developers don't become HPEs without first being given the environment in which to develop the concentration and skills necessary to do so.