You're right when it comes to die size and transistor budget, but complexity can sometimes have hidden costs. Complexity can limit and constrain the design of o

You're right when it comes to die size and transistor budget, but complexity can sometimes have hidden costs. Complexity can limit and constrain the design of other aspects of a system in ways that are nearly impossible to predict and often non-obvious even when you're down in the trenches. Not only can today's features limit tomorrow's design, but because those features give rise to mental models and habits of thinking they can limit future design in an almost unconscious way. The more complex your system becomes the more its existing complexity dominates your thinking to the exclusion of innovative ideas. This process happens so quickly in software that it's obvious there: http://www.retrologic.com/jargon/R/rococo.html http://www.retrologic.com/jargon/R/rococo.html