How crucial is Model View Controller pattern for software?

I just attended an enterprise architecture session at my firm. The architect (astronaut) made a strong statement within the first 10 minute开发者_运维知识库s.

"If your software does not use the Model View Controller pattern, it cannot be called software"

Well, it did create some noise in the room. What do you folks think.

On the one hand your architect is doing his job - provoking debate on important subjects.

On the other hand your architect is being a jackass clown, and he probably knows it.

So what did people do before Model-View Controller? That's quite a naive statement this architect made if you ask me. It's a pattern one can use, and it has pros and cons just like any other pattern. But it's certainly not the only way to write software.

It's not. Separation of Concerns is important. MVC is born through this.

While MVC can work well, especially on web-based applications, it is certainly not the be-all and end-all of design patterns.

Some people can get pretty fanatical about design patterns!

There is no question of crucial but how much useful. Usually useful in BIG projects :)

MVC doesn't define "software". It's just a pattern that works really well for innumerable software projects. Yeah, Separation of Concerns is important but MVC isn't the only way to do this, nor is it imperative for every software project. Sounds like he was trying to be rhetorical but it really comes across like he's been brainwashed. At least from this vantage point.