As anybody who went through the 80s/90s knows, the prototype almost invariably becomes the production artefact. "Why should you rewrite what already works?!?"

As anybody who went through the 80s/90s knows, the prototype almost invariably becomes the production artefact. "Why should you rewrite what already works?!?" Actual building engineers don't have this problem, since the prototype is so obviously not the real thing. Software engineers have to make an actual effort to keep "civilians" from mistaking a prototype for the real thing.