It's a nice thought experiment, but for finished software we would need finished, and well documented hardware, like the gameboy example, and that would be in conflict with most of the profit models of BigTech. It's a shame because we probably already have 100x the processing power at our fingertips than we'll ever use, and certainly more than we 'need'.
But let's not forget to include a finished programming language (other than C89), finished tools, and a finished OS. Although these days it seems like modern programming languages are just academic playgrounds for feature experimentation. And outside of open-source, OS 'enhancements' seem designed mostly for delivering more ads or subscription services.
But even if all that could be solved, I have never worked anywhere that would be willing to pay for more than 80% of what an engineer considers 'finished'. Because we kinda know that the last 20% would be 80% of the budget. Those long term support and stability savings of a well engineered solution are impossible to sell upfront.
whitehexagon•3mo ago
But let's not forget to include a finished programming language (other than C89), finished tools, and a finished OS. Although these days it seems like modern programming languages are just academic playgrounds for feature experimentation. And outside of open-source, OS 'enhancements' seem designed mostly for delivering more ads or subscription services.
But even if all that could be solved, I have never worked anywhere that would be willing to pay for more than 80% of what an engineer considers 'finished'. Because we kinda know that the last 20% would be 80% of the budget. Those long term support and stability savings of a well engineered solution are impossible to sell upfront.