I got about half way through and then had the amusing thought, "Wow. These people would flip out if they saw it now." and the became depressed since they're all dead, heh :/
So.. After reading this, I began wondering if the company I work for does or doesn't fit under the umbrella in the article.
I work for a company that creates online digital "newsrooms". Basically, CMS on steroids. We handle everything for a company that needs to publish their PR content in a way that doesn't make journalists cringe and run screaming. I'm talking about Press Kits, Releases, Photos, Videos, "Baskets" or "bundles" of the above, being able to e-mail the bundles out to other press people, very complex embargoes on content (so releases expire or do not even show up before a certain time), very complex permissions and very complex subscription management systems, etc...
All of the above is... well... complex. The company found they were re-writing the system over and over with each new client, or worse, copying code from the old client.
So they created a system of plug-in-able modules of sorts. When a new newsroom wanted video stuff, we plugin VideoManagement, and all the requisite features get shoved into the new client's app. When a client application that uses video management finds a bug, it is fixed, and pushed out to every other client site that is actively maintained, and they get the fix too.
On top of this, though, the client applications are able to be customized with new layouts and such. Always a bit of a pain, but it's still capable of being customized fairly easily.
So is the company I work for wrong for doing that? We don't have any real clients other than these types. We've found a niche, and have found plenty of business within that niche. Does it not make sense in this case?
I ask here because I'm unsure of whether or not I feel like the company I work for is the exception simply because I work for it.