[mike_hearn]

Aviation does have a lot of backwards compatibility problems. It's one reason Boeing kept revving the 737 to make the Max version. The constraints come from things like training, certification, runway length, fuel mixes, radio protocols, regulations...

[api]

I still think those are less "hard" and non-negotiable than API and architecture lock-in in computing.

The physical world in general is more analog, more open to gradual and "soft" change. Digital things work or do not work, so any change to the foundation just hard-breaks the universe.