Comment by gryn
2 days ago
> It doesn't really matter.
It does matter, that's why those people quit because it's such a shitshow, progress happens at a glacial pace, more and more defects and slowdowns keep being created even if they have a big QA department/teams and the users are probably trapped because the software is the only thing in town, the bosses are the ones that makes the purchase decisions, or the it comes attached to big and/or expensive machines and they can't just buy another one for another X years.
yes, of course. I meant "it doesn't really matter" in the sense that businesses have been dealing with this since the beginning of software. Strong ownership and passion was one of the selling points of OSS, but that style of ownership was always very very rare in corporate. It just doesn't really fit with how businesses operate. The "passion" is ARR, not engineering principals. Most software is built, sold, and bought by people who don't use it directly.
Businesses have been dealing with - more capable one refuse your business and walk away. Or you have to drop prices. And yes, I have seen it happen.
It is not immediate process, but it is a thing.
People quit because maintenance is an unsexy job with poor career prospects.
The code base itself has never and will never matter in the big picture
> The code base itself has never and will never matter in the big picture
Clearing my throat: I am the first person to tell everyone on the team (repeatedly, until they are sick of hearing it) that the users, use cases, and organizational objectives are always more important than the technology.
But, in "the big picture" - the Linux codebase doesn't matter? The codebase that powers AWS doesn't matter? Hell, the Microsoft Office codebase doesn't matter? Look at what's happening to Windows when they treat it like the codebase doesn't matter.
For a tech org, the codebase is the reification of all of your objectives, all of your knowledge about your users and use cases and processes. Long term, a mature codebase plus people who understand it is one of the most valuable things you have. When orgs don't realize this, when they treat their workers and their work product as disposable commodities, we call this "enshittification."
It’s more like shareholder suicide.