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Modern software bloat is often a deliberate tradeoff rather than pure inefficiency. While older programs like Windows 95 ran on 4MB RAM and Super Mario Bros fit in 31KB, today's applications consume vastly more resources to support security features, accessibility, globalization, frameworks, and error handling. However, not all bloat is justified—unnecessary dependencies, over-engineering with microservices, and excessive containerization create genuine problems. Critical performance-sensitive code in codecs, compilers, and game engines still requires optimization. The key is balancing developer productivity with performance, avoiding both premature optimization and choosing poor algorithms early that become costly later.

Some software bloat is OK

Deleted user

Really great article. Fully agree.

well, we got Doom into a .pdf or vaper processor. LOL

One man’s bloat is another man’s feature and this hasn’t really changed. The details have with the computing landscape, but the core issue has not.

facts, sometimes bloat’s just progress in disguise

<a href="https://app.daily.dev/vpol" data-mention-id="GTPraXItY7n4EKpdKtwwS" data-mention-username="vpol" translate="no">@vpol</a> Really love the articles you catalog. Keep up the great work.