The Opera browser is an egregious example. It used to be a browser that had everything plus the kitchen sink, it was blazing fast, and really small (both in exe

The Opera browser is an egregious example. It used to be a browser that had everything plus the kitchen sink, it was blazing fast, and really small (both in executable size and in RAM). It managed to keep that way for many years, constantly improving and packing more useful features while keeping the small footprint, I'd say until version 10 or so. Versions 11 and 12 starting removing features and introducing bloat, and then after version 12 the browser was switched to Blink and became a Chrome clone that didn't have even a quarter of the features of the previous versions. I think probably one (not the only) reason for this was the "reconciling all the new standards and external mishmashes" you mention, but how does that make the weight less gratuitous? It only means that the blame is not exclusively on Opera but also on other companies, committees, etc., but it doesn't make the phenomenon any less ludicrous and sad.