[jakobegger]

But there are other ways to build software. You can make apps with very few dependencies, use stable APIs only, program defensively, make sure you properly read the docs and handle all error conditions, don’t add unnecessary features, etc.

The result can be an app that requires minimal maintenance and it might work for years without any changes at all.

[digi_owl]

But doing so takes focus and diligence, something the software world is notoriously short on (likely they can always push another fix to prod, unlike with hardware).

[timrichard]

And it wasn't always like that with software. We're used to the current situation in the age of portable devices and app stores, but I remember buying software in the 80s and 90s when most people didn't have a modem or any networking connectivity on their home machines. You went to a store, and bought software on disk or CD that came in a cardboard box shrinkwrapped in cellophane. You tried out the features, and it either worked or it didn't. And if it didn't, you were stuck - but that generally didn't happen, to my memory. Because of the lack of options when the product was on the shelves, it was tested rigorously. (Of course it would be fair to say that it would be a siloed runnable that wouldn't generally have dependencies or be required to interoperate with anything else, but the feature density would be comparable).

There was none of this "fix it in tomorrow's release" from the "just ship it duuuudes", so you didn't find obvious defects in features within minutes.