Re: Only Britain? Short answer: No.
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What other branch of engineering allows so many to believe "Build Now, Plan Later" is a recipe for anything but disaster?
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Looked at the vehicle and roads industry lately? Initially it was built ad hoc, & later planned but added to the original layout. Just look at how the London streets run!
Operating systems have grown in the same way. Built up layer upon layer & still having issues from the original design flaws. Same reason for the Y2k panic... "This code will be completely replaced by then!" Nope, just patched & built upon. Windows is not different, nor is Unix, iOS or Linux (which, I believe are respectively, based on it* & designed to be a free 100% compatible alternative to it).
Then you get strange interactions between your new bit of code and something written 10 years ago, that no one remembers even existed...
*I could be wrong, I often am. But you have to go with what you know & just note & question your assumptions as you do...