> The fact they went to shit has nothing to do with analytics. Perhaps, perhaps not. Analytics can definitely guide developers along the wrong path. A typical

> The fact they went to shit has nothing to do with analytics. Perhaps, perhaps not. Analytics can definitely guide developers along the wrong path. A typical example is that it leads to simplification to cater to 80% of their userbase at the expense of the power users. After all, analytics tells us all these extensive options are only used by 20% of the people, why offer them at all? But then the power users become frustrated and leave, and the remaining 80% who were mostly beginners on their way to becoming power users now find that the software lacks the in-depth options they needed later on. Then they don't stick around either because you just gutted your own product. I agree with you that analytics is a tool; it can be useful, but often it is not and often it hurts more than it helps. I also claim that it is definitely not essential to modern software development.