[hardwaresofton]

This has been a thought that has been kind of recurring for me the last few weeks.

I think the problem of bad architectural decisions has been understated, possibly since the dawn of computing.

An example of greatness is HTTP and SMTP. I'd argue most cases don't even need HTTP/2 or HTTP/3 -- getting rid of all the tracking/bloatware on the modern internet would deliver more value for the end-customer but that's not the direction we're going in. The industry has boomerang'd back to nearly static sites (I think there was progress made, IMO SSR is a local maximum), so honestly HTTP/1 is often good enough.

An example of sadness might be Bluetooth. Every time I sit down to look at some docs that involve it (mobile, otherwise) I am horrified anew.

Bad standards basically set the entire industry back person-decades.