Also, there is always about 10 times more legacy shit than decent new software in any org. That's the ultimate goal for many companies: not even good (let along best) quality but essential because we built something a decade ago to go with it and no one wants to undo all that convoluted undocumented bs. It's sad and I think tech people like me don't "get" it. But it's actually a much better business model than making good software and competing on price/quality.

I worked for plenty of good and shitty software companies. I've never seen bribery. I have seen shitty companies win because they're bigger or older or what was used last time or more polished at speaking to execs who know nothing. One place I worked at made most of its sales because we were a subsidiary of a stock exchange. So people assumed we were safe and competent (we weren't). "No one gets fired for choosing IBM" AND "No one gets a bonus for choosing something better but less well known, quite the opposite, they have to justify it"