Analysis of longevity of code across many popular projects
Look at how consistently the lines of code grow for these projects.  I doubt that is surprising but think about the implications.  Linux is a pretty old open source project and still on balance the lines of code just grow.<p>How many lines of code will it be in fifty years?  Will we have to come up with new systems to manage the fact that individuals only really understand smaller and smaller pieces of it?  Will it reach a mass where like a black hole it collapses from some uncomprehensible failure?<p>There have never been things like this that just grow in complexity forever.