They're called locks and transactions. Read up on them.
Ok, so because Suzie loaded up the Hertz inventory page and then went on a jog the rest of the world can't reserve a car? You can't just put everything in a transaction. The whole point of transactions and table/row locking is to ensure safe multi-client access to the same data. Manual refresh is a simple, clean way for Suzie to see how the inventory changed while she was out.
"they couldn't secure financing for manufacturing and shipping the first batch of units"
If only we had a way to provide funding for products? We could set up websites that enabled people to post commercially unviable ideas, collect sales in advance, and then bullshit for two years about why they haven't shipped, promised features have been removed, etc.
BASIC is the Computer Science equivalent of `Scientific Creationism'.