People understand the real cost
There has rarely been an industry in which the "real cost" has been understood - or, at least, paid for by the industry concerned. We have a legacy of spoil heaps, polluted watercourses, contaminated land, collapsing ecosystems, death, disease and - of most concern - a rapidly heating planet to prove it.
Software maintenance is just another "externality" - a cost for which someone else is expected to pick up the tab.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
