I think it is also because even with the more vanilla languages and APIs, they have also become moving targets. Java 1.4 felt like a sweet spot, similar C99, W

I think it is also because even with the more vanilla languages and APIs, they have also become moving targets. Java 1.4 felt like a sweet spot, similar C99, WebGL2/HTML5 etc. It seems like we are unable to say 'job done' and feature freeze them. And imagine the software stability if that was paired with a 5 year stable hardware platform. Maybe that is what you mean? that we approach a point with a 'last computer' that will be forever more optimized?