It’s possible to make things that last if you are in total control of the whole stack, including hardware.
Embedded systems that still do their job after 30 years do exist but they live in isolation in a specific and controlled environment, and are built for a limited, unchanging task.
On the other hand, complex web software is build on layer upon layers that are not in Twitter’s complete control.
Hardware change regularly, requiring changes at the lower levels of an OS, inducing potential changes in behaviour, performance, which require adaptation as a consequence.
And that’s before considering security, eternally moving goalposts. Not just at the OS or network level, but also at the business level.
Twitter and al are not living in a locked down context, they live in the messy world of human interactions and that alone requires constant tweaking.
So yes, a binary is more like a mathematical construct and by itself it won’t rot, but if the world around that binary changes, you need to change the binary as well, and for that you need maintenance. The amount required depends on the complexity, brittleness and how well your stack is engineered, but implying it’s a con is a bit extreme.
Embedded systems that still do their job after 30 years do exist but they live in isolation in a specific and controlled environment, and are built for a limited, unchanging task.
On the other hand, complex web software is build on layer upon layers that are not in Twitter’s complete control.
Hardware change regularly, requiring changes at the lower levels of an OS, inducing potential changes in behaviour, performance, which require adaptation as a consequence.
And that’s before considering security, eternally moving goalposts. Not just at the OS or network level, but also at the business level.
Twitter and al are not living in a locked down context, they live in the messy world of human interactions and that alone requires constant tweaking.
So yes, a binary is more like a mathematical construct and by itself it won’t rot, but if the world around that binary changes, you need to change the binary as well, and for that you need maintenance. The amount required depends on the complexity, brittleness and how well your stack is engineered, but implying it’s a con is a bit extreme.