I understand your sentiment but there’s an unbelievable amount of low-level code that will never get updated and will be fine for the lifetime of whatever system it’s in. If you drive an ICE car there’s a chance it will never really need an ECU update. The microcontrollers in most of your home devices, from washing machines to sprinkler systems, probably can’t even be updated. We’re capable of building software that lasts more or less forever, but it often has to be paired to specific hardware and made for specific use-cases.

You're absolutely right. Note that I said "years without updating" not "never updated". Depending on the domain, I think we can always at least aim to make our software as rugged as possible.

I think we should take more aspiration from mechanical engineers and car manufacturers.

A car needs maintenance, but you might just start up a 70 year old engine and it works ok. Our a 70 year old car might be still up and running with minimal maintenance. You don't want to be rapairing/updating your car every month or week.

I understand the domains are different, but how much really? I think if we build with the "rugged" mindset and good engineering, there is a lot of improvement to be made to what software is.