Economics, economics, economics. Companies only put the amount of effort into their software that's necessary to optimize profits. Startups are incentivized to

Economics, economics, economics. Companies only put the amount of effort into their software that's necessary to optimize profits. Startups are incentivized to move fast and break things, and then to keep adding to their broken prototype instead of rebuilding the product, because it's more affordable. OS vendors benefit from lock-in and hardware is fast enough that the vast majority of consumers don't notice. If something breaks, you just take it to the Apple store and they reset it. It's cheaper for everybody involved. Online ad vendors have no incentive to create a less-than-terrible web experience because it's not their site that's being trashed. On top of it all, there's no regulatory or institutional quality standard. It's left to be a race to the bottom. I don't know what the fix is, or whether there is one at all, but we should at least stop being surprised. We shouldn't really be blaming it on "kids these days" either, which is an all-too-common refrain. There simply isn't a business incentive to invest in quality.