As the evolution of applications, software systems become more and more complex. However, it is a challenge to deliver easy-to-use and reliable large-scale distributed software systems. This paper first reviews current requirements on software systems and the progress made and then reports our effort in delivering a more usable and reliable large-scale distributed software development framework (iFrame) to support e-research. Bearing human collaboration in the first place, iFrame synthesizes peer-to-peer (P2P), service-oriented architecture (SOA), Web 2.0 and semantic Web into grid: P2P is deployed to construct an interconnected environment to enhance reliability and scalability, SOA and semantic Web are exploited to deliver concrete business functionality and prompt interoperability, whereas Web 2.0 is utilized to devise more usable interface.