I think that if SQLite would suddenly have to add a bunch of new features, the discussion about rewriting it would be very relevant.
I think we like to fool ourselves that decisions like these are based on performance considerations or maintainability or whatever, but in reality they would be based on time to market and skill availability in the areas where the team is being built.
At the end of the day, SQLite is not being rewritten because the cost of doing so is not justifiable
It's more about what the company considers core business and what not. Most often they don't see the website as being important enough to the business so they don't invest in it.
We have gotten used to almost flawless experiences from amazon shopping. Google search finds (or used to) results sometimes almost like magic, etc. The thing is, that's the core business. These companies invent new technologies and have huge teams because doing this is so hard.
Now take a random supermarket chain. Their knowledge is about physical stores. Their core business has taught them where to open a store and how to arrange things in it so that they maximize their sales in that environment. It's very hard and it takes a very long time to shift to an online model. You have to find people with the right competencies and the right leadership to convince the company to do this and this is actually very hard to do.
Look at the categories example. That, to me, screams backend database. The company has invested a lot of money into building business intelligence on top of their physical stores. That organization screams "perfectly curated data warehouse" and I imagine suggesting something like "we need to reorganize the way we store data" is going to be met with blank stares if not full on outrage.
Is it how humans think? Or is it just media trying to create drama out of nothing?
Most of the people who get exposed to extremist content without looking for it will surely not even register the ads around that content. An IBM ad cannot possibly be as noticeable as that.
And, of course, the real problem is the presence of said content, not it's placement among ads. Manufactured drama like the one we're looking at here only detracts us from taking about what is really important.
"early stages of corporate dystopia". If anything, we're on the other side of it where companies are being held to some ridiculous standard that we don't even hold elected officials to. Remember Netflix having to fire Kevin Spacey for being accused of something that the president of the United States actually admitted to? How does this fit into the dystopian medium you think you live in?
I'm obviously not condoning abusive behaviour, I'm using this as an example of how much scrutiny there is on these corporations.
It's the same in this case: you're taking the view that a company should allow itself to be dragged into politics by the employee who publicly represents it. Surely that's wrong, isn't it? Companies should not be involved in politics. That's specifically what you are against when you call them dystopian.
This person, who I assume is an US citizen, is absolutely allowed to criticise the army, but they should do it as a citizen. Ultimately, the army serves the citizens and corporations serve customers.
She faced concequences for her actions as an employee, not as an activist of peace. Offensive language as an employee, especially when directed at the customer, usually gets you fired.
She wasn't whistle blowing/revealing any inside information. She wasn't adding anything to the topic of the conversation. She publicly made a rude personal comment at a conference from a platform which connects the company with its current and prospective customers. I'm surprised the company dragged this for so long. If this was a waiter at a restaurant saying "fuck you" to this guy while eating there, I'm sure they wouldn't even have had a chance to finish their shift.
I'm assuming the "fuck you" was the one that fired her. However you choose to understand free speech, being needlessly rude as a media representative of a company should get you fired.
I think we like to fool ourselves that decisions like these are based on performance considerations or maintainability or whatever, but in reality they would be based on time to market and skill availability in the areas where the team is being built.
At the end of the day, SQLite is not being rewritten because the cost of doing so is not justifiable