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If I remember Brooks correctly, second system syndrome does not refer to all successor systems, and frequently complex/over-built systems spawn elegant ones in turn (oversimplifying a bit, but MULTICS -> UNIX springs to mind). I seem to recall Brooks regarding this as cyclical, with leaner third systems spawning bloated fourth systems, and so on.

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i was referring to recent examples such as python 3.0, perl 6, or even, say, apache 2.0. eventually they were usable, but the blood sweat and tears involved did not make for cute blog posts such as the one we're commenting on.

I think a component in a service oriented architecture would lend itself more cleanly to reimplementation, with less chance for "Second System Syndrome", because you still have an api contract you are responsible for.

I think a "released" software, like those you mentioned, would be somewhat more likely to become a stereotypical "second system".

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