Here's an optimistic thought: one great company can change things. Google's engineering-driven culture did that. And Apple has made people care about design, albeit only the surface-aesthetic sense of "design", which is what they identify with Apple despite Jobs' dictum "design is how it works". Well, suppose a new company came along that succeeded massively by means of good software design. A lot of things would turn on their head. People would have to stop saying "that's not feasible" or "things are too complicated" or "market forces demand otherwise", just as Apple's success has caused them – against all odds! – to have to stop saying those things about elegance and beauty.
Such a company could have a profound effect because many of the best and/or most aptitudinous (sorry) programmers would be inspired by it. Right now we have no great example to point to, just a bunch of intuitions and (by now) raggedy traditions that we barely understand, which is what I take to be the point of the OP. But great design feeds the soul in a way that the steaming landfills many of us spend our days adding code to never can. So there's a fair amount of talent out there waiting to be kindled. One bolt of lightning and who knows.
Yeah it hasn't happened yet, but it's easy to imagine how it could. Historical accident plays a role in such things.
Such a company could have a profound effect because many of the best and/or most aptitudinous (sorry) programmers would be inspired by it. Right now we have no great example to point to, just a bunch of intuitions and (by now) raggedy traditions that we barely understand, which is what I take to be the point of the OP. But great design feeds the soul in a way that the steaming landfills many of us spend our days adding code to never can. So there's a fair amount of talent out there waiting to be kindled. One bolt of lightning and who knows.
Yeah it hasn't happened yet, but it's easy to imagine how it could. Historical accident plays a role in such things.