That guy really has a done a rewrite and then got it back to the point where it is used. That is what I felt when reading the article. Many people just rewrite

That guy really has a done a rewrite and then got it back to the point where it is used. That is what I felt when reading the article. Many people just rewrite and then complain that their rewrite never gets used. So they don't draw the important conclusions and the next time they will try it again. If you really push yourself, your team and the users to using the rewrite and getting it back on track with the original solution, then you have to go through all the disappointments of your rewrite not being better than the original, the real pains you induce in your users, and solve so many problems you've never signed up for solving because you didn't know that the old, ugly solution actually solved these as well. The pain of reading, understanding and fixing/improving the old, ugly solftware is never that painful. And the value is much more immediate since your users already use and know the old software.