Sun bought steemit, not the block chain. I know there have been some groups, other front ends that would have liked to been able to get updates to the steem software API or what ever runs the chain, a chain wide system needs to be in place for how teams like steempeak dev team get to present their code/upgrade changes to the witnesses for consideration of adoption.
I am not a developer so the terms may be wrong that I used, I do know steempeak has been asking their user what changes they would like to see. I am sure that other front ends or development teams have been seeking out user needs wants and desires also. I do understand that Hard Forks should be kept to a minimum, but there must be a way teams other than the steemit development team to propose and get enacted Hard Forks.