a lot of people don't get this but software rots. Just like a physical piece of wood or machine, software rusts, software rots. It's content doesn't change, sure, but the world around it does. The same database you release today, wont work 10 years later perfectly. It'll rust. It won't handle new formats, old formats will introduce new features that will confuse and break your databases algorithm software rusts and rots. The only way to keep software from rusting, just like a good metallic tool, is polishing it, maintaining it, making sure it's nice and working