It's not always that the internal process is broken - it's that sometimes it takes a very long time to get a new release approved for use (even if it's an upgra

It's not always that the internal process is broken - it's that sometimes it takes a very long time to get a new release approved for use (even if it's an upgrade to one that the customer has already been using). Sometimes it's the customer's process that is slow (big enterprise culture), sometimes there are one or more third parties involved. Sometimes it's both. Many years ago I wrote software for a medical device. Before we could sell the device we needed to get it tested by Underwriters Laboratories to ensure it was safe (wouldn't shock people) and could be cleaned by hospital staff without damage. We also had to do the process to get the CE mark for it so it could be sold in the EU. And of course the FDA needed to approve it. It took nearly a year for all this, before we could offer it for sale and start marketing it. So there's a third of the LTS lifetime consumed, right there.