The problem is that it's not just software. Shareholders and corporate "leadership" have collectively decided that they are willing to sacrifice any and all future success in order to make stock prices go up today. They don't know where the business will be in five years and frankly, they don't care. Virtually all of the big names have completely stopped innovating. Cramming "AI" into their shitty products and trying really hard to pretend that's it's something different or "new" when it's just the same shit but with more bloatware.

Manufacturing isn't much different. I worked at a specialized industrial tool manufacturer for a few years. They were trying to add a new "smart tool" line and demoed it at an international trade show only to get completely excoriated by their customers who were all like, "Don't even talk to me about 'smart' tools when the [very expensive] tools you already produce don't fucking work." But that's how it goes when your business is built on acquisitions and the way you make your stock price go up is by coasting on your brand portfolios past success while simultaneously eliminating the people who made that success possible.

I once worked with an SVP at a huge corporation that liked to engage in "bike shedding". This guy is like seven rungs above me on the ladder and is trying to tell me what fields each SQL table should have.

Then we got a new department director who was very good at keeping upper management distracted and off our backs. Lots of people in middle management don't justify their own salaries but I would argue that he sure did.

I once worked with an SVP at a huge corporation thar liked to micromanage the the team I was on. This guy was like seven rungs above me on the ladder and is trying to tell me how to lay out

Only if it can also be a microservice.

I'm all for corporations and the wealthy paying their fair share of taxes, which they often don't.

However, revenue is not income and gains on investments are unrealized gains until you sell your shares and withdraw the cash.

If I'm reading Tesla's income statement correctly, they expect to pay something like $1.4B in taxes on $5.2B in income for 2025. Figures calculated using fuzzy pre-coffee math in my head and may not reflect any reasonable accounting standards

I've seen plenty of back ends that needed to be destroyed.

Back when Zoom recalled all their employees to the office a couple years ago, that should have been the end for them.

Their product is designed to facilitate remote work and communication and they basically advertised to the entire world that, in their minds, it's ineffective. That was a blunder of epic proportions.

People with hip replacements can walk again for years afterwards. This is not normal.

Bet you $1,000 the credentials are stored in plain text.

Friendly reminder that Wells Fargo is a criminal enterprise masquerading as a bank.

Zoom: "wE cAnT cOlAbOrAtE iF wErE nOt In PeRsOn. We NeEd EmPloYeEs To ReTuRn tO tHe OfFiCe."

They have stiff competition but this has to be one of the most incompetent boners I have ever seen pulled by a major corporation. Stating very clearly to the entire world that you have no confidence in your own product. If Eric Yuan (Zoom's CEO) wasn't the principle shareholder he probably would have been fired out of a cannon by now.

I can't think of a worse marketing strategy for a company that relies on remote work to remain relevant. This would be like if General Motors forced every employee within 50 miles of an assembly plant to ride a bike to work.