Seems like a bit of a contrived argument. I think the more plain, more boring, but more realistic explanation is the one given in the letter from X. The reason

Seems like a bit of a contrived argument. I think the more plain, more boring, but more realistic explanation is the one given in the letter from X. The reason the website looks like it is is because of the politics involved in building it. When someone has maneuvered the corporate landscape for a year to get a slice of the homepage, you're not going to be able to overrule them just on the fact that "it's bad design". I'll agree that there's something self-destructive about the culture in many large corporations, but I don't think it's entirely down to the CEOs... I believe it's more like a natural emergent quality of large corporations.