nearly thirty years ago i saw a guy stand up in an all hands staff meeting, declare "this is stupid", walk out and never come back, and friends, there's not a single day of 2026 I haven't thought of him

@cap_ybarra

I haven't *precisely* done that, but there was one all-hands at a company I worked for until March 1995 that made me quit my job a week or so later.

What did it was the music when the board of directors ran on stage, punching the air, to announce the old CEO's retirement and replacement by the CFO.

They played "Things can only get better".

Reader: they did not.

(Luckily I read the writing on the wall and got out in time.)

for the record, the direct quote was:

`this is fuckin stupid`

@cstross i heard of some ballmer pep rallys at msft that went similarly

@cap_ybarra This was at SCO, during its final years as an actual UNIX VAR doing software development rather than a set of trademarks sold to a litigation mill. Which is kind of the point.

@cstross if nothing else it's a reminder that the self immolation of the software industry is cyclical. could set your clocks to it

@cap_ybarra Yes, but I have a feeling it's running out of headroom: Moore's Law is more or less done, which means there are no more easy gains to be had. Meanwhile the VCs are trying to reap the same levels of profit as a growth industry from a mature industry, hence the LLM bubble now inflating. I can't see where they go from here after it bursts.

@cstross @cap_ybarra there's an all hands at my org every monday morning at 0930 and it begins with inspirational music. it is the very epitome of 'splendid and worthwhile'.

@cstross all the easy gains now are rent seeking and snake oil sales because of exactly what you said

@cstross @cap_ybarra Weapons and surveillance tech

@cstross @cap_ybarra Do you remember GrokLaw? For years I read every GrokLaw post I could. Then it just stopped...

@geolaw @cap_ybarra Nope, I didn't track it. (Remember, I left SCO more than 30 years ago. I just wince whenever anyone mentions their name now.)

@cstross @cap_ybarra And in the aftermath of SCO vs Linux we got git

@cap_ybarra