Digital encoding. Legacy software. Evolution.
250bpm.com/blog:89We’ve finally got to the point in the software world where no big changes are possible. Every change breaks something, introduces backward incompatibilities and so on. More are more we are going to live in the world where software mutates gradually, advancing is small steps without much plan and intelligent design. Similarly to how organisms are dragged by natural selection, it is going to be propelled in unknown direction without asking us whether we like it or not.
The software industry is reaching the stage where it cannot be revolutionized heavily, it is to evolve like the living ones. It is not necessarily good.