As someone who is also saddened by software bloat, I also wondered a bit about where it stems from. There are of course the usual suspects (some of them mention

As someone who is also saddened by software bloat, I also wondered a bit about where it stems from. There are of course the usual suspects (some of them mentioned in the article), but I think it boils down to another symptom of the modern rat-race culture, and it is not limited to software. When the goal of creating beauty and enjoying (as well as taking pride in) the creation process is replaced by the god of money and getting it out the door as fast as possible, the quality of the thing you're getting out the door has to deteriorate. I'd argue that a side effect of this is that the quality of life of both the creator and the receiver of the product decreases, but that is not immediately apparent when you're too busy trying to win a rat race... However, I'm optimistic. For one, I think that the tools we have today are superior in absolute terms (convenience, speed, ease of use etc.) than they ever were. Of course they are not exponentially better (like the hardware they run on), but they are better. Also, occasionally I see some gems here and there. There are still many developers who take pride in what they do and I enjoy finding that diamond once in a while when searching for an alternative technology to use in a new project.