cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/52842255

Have been working my way through this author's essays, thought this one was a unique observation.

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[–] 2 points 3 months ago (1 child)

Full context of the first quote:

Those who believe we’ve been in an incrementally escalating software crisis since at least 2007.

Our current software crisis – we’ve had a few – has been ramping up since the US gave up on regulation after the 2007 crash. Instead of reforming and regulating finance, the US decided to let the finance industry take over all of its industries, which hasn’t been great overall, but for software it’s meant that “quality” stopped mattering.

  • Well-funded startups capture market share with subsidised products.
  • Big tech is a cluster of oligopolies and monopolies.
  • Internal software projects are driven by their potential effects on stock prices (“UGC! No, Web 2.0! No, blockchain! No, AI!”).
  • Customer lock-in is a standard tactic.

There is little to no downside to poor software quality. The upside of doing the job well is limited compared to tactics like lock-in, dishonest subscription models, and monopolies

If his principal complaint is industry consolidation and consumer abuse, then the browser situation is not a great counterexample.

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