[stronglikedan]

You can't hold anyone accountable for open source. With closed source, there's someone else to point the finger at when things go wrong.

[doublepg23]

I heard this a lot before I started my career but IME this rarely pans out and you’re just stuck with broken software without documentation and source code.

[immibis]

Whether the software works is irrelevant, as long as there's something to blame for it not working.

Engineers tend to assume the end goal is working software, but this is rarely actually the case.

[doublepg23]

No I'm saying the company goes out of business or just tells you to pound sand because X product isn't supported now. You have a grace period of a few years.

[immibis]

And I'M saying YOUR company doesn't care that it doesn't work, because they still have a way to absolve responsibility for it not working: blame the vendor who went out of business.

[englishspot]

yep. usually the original architect moves on to another project before things get really bad. and then all that's left is the bag-holder (me).