If coding has been solved, why does software keep getting worse?(ptrchm.com)
874 points by pchm 48 days ago | 666 comments
tl;dr: Despite AI coding tools raising productivity and skill floors, everyday software (banking apps, car infotainment, macOS) keeps getting buggier and more fragile because complexity has grown while incentives still reward features over stability. The author argues KPI-driven vendors won't prioritize bug-fixing, so quality will keep decaying at big companies—but sees an opening for individual developers to leverage AI to build better alternatives.
HN Discussion:
  • Updates now inspire dread rather than excitement, confirming software is degrading
  • Non-technical decision-makers control products, sidelining devs who notice quality issues
  • Focus-stealing and similar UX bugs exemplify pervasive quality decay
  • ~Software has always been buggy; blame inexperience and market incentives, not AI
  • Perverse promotion/KPI incentives reward shiny new tools over fixing existing ones