We can look back in hindsight and say that, but at the time it may have just been that nobody had the resources to do those things. I agree with your sentiment

We can look back in hindsight and say that, but at the time it may have just been that nobody had the resources to do those things. I agree with your sentiment that some forking is preventable, but other times it isn't. Changing the fundamental design of the program tends to be one of those things that can't really be merged without causing a lot of other problems.