[jhayward]

This reads like the tale of a junior dev who doesn't even know what s/he doesn't know, and is full of hubris about how they're "finally getting rid of this old crap" that they don't really understand, don't have the decades of domain insight that are built in to it, and don't respect anyone because of the above.

Just sayin', I wonder what the tale from the other side of the table was in this story.

[bgorman]

I have never heard of anyone wishing bad luck or malice to other developers. If this tale is true, I don't think the greybeards deserve much respect based on their conduct. You simply cannot disparage others.

[JdeBP]

Calling people names, like "greybeards", is also disparagement, of course.