I think the removal was originally about memory usage in Win 95 due to fitting the new OS into lower RAM systems. Then it was about battery usage. More recently

I think the removal was originally about memory usage in Win 95 due to fitting the new OS into lower RAM systems. Then it was about battery usage. More recently the epidemic of feature and information removal from interfaces is primarily driven by the obsession of UX designers to dumb down everything to the lowest common denominator. By controlling how usage analytics are instrumented UX designers can weaponize the data to support removing almost any feature or information they don't personally find essential. Of course, this entirely misses the fact that power users drive word-of-mouth and adoption >10x more than lowest common denominator users and also have significantly higher lifetime value because they are engaged and loyal (until you finally remove too much advanced utility). I'm all for simplicity - what I don't understand is the insistence on removing features or capabilities entirely instead of just putting them as an option in advanced settings. Different users have different preferences and good UX design can maintain surface simplicity without trashing depth, flexibility and personalization.