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Why Modern Apps Are Bloated: The Software Obesity Crisis Explained

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A technical analysis published on DEV Community argues that modern software has become severely bloated, with basic chat applications now requiring up to 1.5 GB of RAM and 14 background processes to run. The piece contrasts this with the Apollo 11 Guidance Computer, which landed humans on the moon in 1969 using just 4 KB of RAM. Much of the blame is placed on Electron-based desktop apps, which bundle a full Chromium browser engine and Node.js runtime for each application, meaning tools like Slack, Discord, and Spotify each function as isolated web browsers consuming hundreds of megabytes. Developer convenience and corporate incentives are cited as key drivers, with modern projects routinely pulling in thousands of transitive dependencies just to handle simple tasks like date parsing or string formatting. The author describes the problem as a systemic, multi-layered crisis stretching from hardware-level inefficiencies up to the user interface.

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Why Modern Apps Are Bloated: The Software Obesity Crisis Explained · ShortSingh