---
id: "question-enterprise-middleware-replacement"
type: "open-question"
source_timestamps: ["00:08:18", "00:10:45"]
tags: ["enterprise-software", "legacy-systems"]
related: ["concept-agentic-primitives"]
sources: ["s20-50x-faster"]
sourceVaultSlug: "s20-50x-faster"
originDay: 20
---
# How Will Complex Enterprise Middleware Be Replaced?

## The Question

While the speaker clearly outlines how **developer tools** (compilers, file systems) are shifting to [[concept-agentic-primitives]], it remains an open question how massive, deeply entrenched **enterprise middleware** — ERPs, CRMs, document stores — will make this transition.

Will companies like Salesforce, SAP, and SharePoint:

- **Rebuild their backends** to remove pagination and human affordances?
- Be **replaced** by entirely new agent-native enterprise startups?
- Survive via **MCP-style wrappers** (but see [[concept-mcp-illusion]])?

## Resolution Path

Observe how legacy systems like SAP, Salesforce, and SharePoint adapt to or are replaced by agent-native KV caches and persistent environments **over the next 3-5 years**. Specifically watch:

- New SKUs labeled 'agent-native' from incumbents
- Funding patterns for agent-first enterprise startups
- Whether MCP wrappers remain dominant or are superseded

## Related

- [[concept-agentic-primitives]]
- [[concept-mcp-illusion]]
- [[concept-human-affordance-bottleneck]]
- [[framework-web-rebuild-layers]]