Computer systems, both hardware and software, have simply become too complicated for the average PHB and for the average company.
The vast majority of the managers have no idea, NONE, how these systems work, how they are put together, and how they should be maintained and updated. They simply select software based on the latest buzzword, the latest Gartner "quadrant" (whatever that is) or the latest fad and/or "safe" choice (Remember: "Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM"? Or Microsoft, or Oracle, or Red Hat Linux, or...).
What is even worse is that everyone right now is under pressure to deliver, deliver, deliver: services, software, profits, what have you. Simple common sense, such as using simple, proven techonologies, updating (or even replacing) things on a regular basis, and testing for the most common security and configuration mistakes, not to mention advanced standards (PCI-DSS anyone?) is simply forgotten and/or swept under the carpet. There, the issues accumulate and fester, until the rot and stench become unbearable and attract the script kiddies and the bottom-feeders of the Internet.
Add to this technical and engineering teams that are under-staffed, underpaid, overworked, often demoralized and threatened constantly with being axed and replaced by H1B or outsourced to a third-world country, and you have a recipe for disaster. Hence the Equifax we will now have on a regular basis and the Internet of Shit, the half-baked PHP pages, coded by the moronic intern, that are simply begging to be hacked, drawn and quartered. Hence the constant scapegoating of the technical team -- both "dev" and "ops" -- that results in those perfectly avoidable disasters.
To the average PHB and countless ''bro'' startup CEOs, the people who know their stuff are simply nerds, both too expensive and too whiny, useful idiots to be ignored, discarded and replaced at will in their quest for more profit, "eyeballs", "clicks", and even more profits. And these same PHBs and CEOs parade and strut in front of their peers, talking nonsense about things they do not understand, piling buzzwords on top of buzzwords while their nerds and geeks desperately try to warn them about this or that issue or vulnerability.
It's time for a new revenge of the nerds. It's time for companies and their leaders to be held accountable for their failings -- except they will probably find easier to scapegoat the nerds.
The issue is not open-source software. The issue is not closed-source software, or even computers. The issue is that nobody cares about a job well done anymore, because profits. Try to wake up the idiots that rule companies and you will either be ignored or dismissed. Propaganda (just another word for PR) and appearances are more important than caring for your customers or your employees. Save a buck, damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead. What do you mean we have to patch this? Shut up!
This is not new or even special (Exhibit #1: the Ford Pinto). This is just a bit more visible these days. We are back in the Gilded Age of the Robber Barons.
And by the way, if you are reading this, you are probably not one of the Robber Barons. You are one of the nerds. Welcome.