There is not a single piece of software—all technology, in fact—that cannot be disrupted or forgotten.
Apache used to dominate web servers. Nginx said, “Hold my beer.”
Bitcoin was at near 95% market share dominance in 2013. Altcoins and other communities entered the space, and now Bitcoin is at 44% market dominance.
WordPress continues to grow. It’s over 60% of total CMS market share and 30% of the web. Joomla and Drupal are dwindling. Shopify and Squarespace are growing. Someone, somewhere, is working on something better than all of these.
Facebook matters today, so much that it’s jeopardizing democracies. It didn’t exist before 2004, and it may not endure in 2034.
These are broad, somewhat abstract ideas. I’ll go smaller.
Look around you. Pick something. I’ll pick my glass cup. It’s not that interesting at all; it holds water and ice and isn’t great on my wooden table during the summer time. It sweats and leaves traces of condensation around my phone and bedstand items.
There is someone right now in this world figuring out a way to make a better glass cup. One that doesn’t easily sweat. One that’s beautiful and fits with the aesthetics of almost any interior. One that stays cold and stays hot. One that doesn’t slip or chip. Someone is attempting to make the perfect glass cup when so many exist already.
Think of this whenever you marry yourself to an idea. You may love WordPress or Bitcoin. Nginx may be your jam. You may feel lost without the auto-sync between your MacBook, iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch.
You may never imagine a future in which your favorite social network or current reality does not exist but that day will come. It will.
Your parents will die and so too will the roses you toss on their graves.
