Not a practitioner, just a startup cofounder affected by these changes.. not legal or tax advice. You can read the applicable text here:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/174
Section 174(c)(3)
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(3) Software development
For purposes of this section, any amount paid or incurred in connection with the development of any software shall be treated as a research or experimental expenditure.
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That being said... it's complicated: https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en-us/posts/tax-and-accountin...
We've heard a mix of advice from various tax professionals on what should be classified as R&D or not. The messaging gets expecially mixed since the R&D tax credit is often handled by a 3rd party that specializes in it. The company specializing in the tax credit may be incentivized to classify as much of your activity as R&D as they can, since they are usually paid a percentage of the total credits they are able to claim for your company.
It certainly complicates running a software company. My cofounder and I need to look at the amortization schedule before making any engineering hire as we basically need to consider their salary nearly 100% R&D. I imagine it's even more complicated for founders with overseas teams.
It would certainly be easier for us to do business if Section 174 was revised :)