Why is software becoming more bloated and intrusive?

[Diplo]

There used to be a time when you'd install a piece of software and it performed the function you required and only used up system resources when you actually ran it. Nowadays, though, nearly every product is getting more and more bloated, installs lots of extra stuff you never asked for and makes network connections left, right and centre. Take a few examples at random:

Adobe Acrobat Reader: Once-upon-a-time this was a simple viewer for PDFs. It was a small download and opened instantaneously. You didn't need to bother worrying about privacy implications. Nowadays, though, it's a bloated piece of junk. There are 19 pages of options in Preferences, and each one has many sub-options. 19 pages. As soon as you run it you are usually greeted by your firewall going crazy and the damn thing wanting to install updates. Yesterday I let it update itself (it pleaded so much I felt sorry for it) and it required TWO reboots to finish the installation. TWO reboots to install an update for a PDF reader? WTF?

Then there's Adobe's answer to the fact that version 6 was so bloated and fat that it took an AGE to actually start-up. So what do Adobe do to "fix" this in version 7? Yep, they add a shortcut to your Programs > StartUp folder that pre-loads half of it when you boot into Windows. So, yes, Reader now starts faster but ONLY by making Windows load slower! And it still doesn't start that quickly even now.

It's not just Acrobat, though. Even apps like Nero, which used to be great at doing one thing well, are now trying to be jack-of-all trades. Now Nero seems to install extra crap to "monitor" folders for certain Media (which grinds your hard-disk into dust). It adds itself to My Computer, it leaves crap lying around My Documents folder every time you run it (not to mention all the .tmp files in /Local Settings/). Hey, if I wanted Real player, I'd install Real Player!

You don't seem to be able to get a firewall or AV that doesn't have integrated pop-up blockers, script filtering, instant messenger monitoring and (no doubt) built in media player. And if software doesn't install at least 3 services set to 'Automatic' start-up then it's just not done it's job (here's looking at you, iTunes). Let's also not forget all the games that install intrusive copy-protection, hidden system drivers and "reminders" to register them (so they can spam you for eternity with "special offers") and then spend every five minutes connecting to the Net for "updates". Of course, most of the time the only thing that every gets updated is the updating software itself (hello, "Steam" !).

It's time we got control back!

 

[Npl]

LOL, Nero 7 is the definition of bloat. Worse still, you would need to DL 100+ MB for a simple Version-Update, even if you dont give a shit for anything but the Core-Package. Then you have to manually uncheck 2 dozends of checkboxes upon installation. And finally, they dont seem to care for fixing bugs, if you choose 2 Files in Nero and for example click the hidden-checkbox, both files get renamed to "2 Files".
Rename a single file and upon burning it nags that the file has got to be renamed because of Filesystem-limitations to the name you entered. I mean I figured out those 2 bugs immedeatly with the first downloadable release and with 7.0.1.4 they still arent fixed.

Only Vista might topple it.

 

[Rodéric]

I agree, and it goes for OS too.
OS must allow software to use the hardware to its best, which mean use minimal CPU power, RAM and HDD space, and not being shiped with a gazillion apps you don't care about. Obviously your OS must have minimal apps about a bit everything (windows manage that just fine), but "big" apps like WMP, MSN Messenger and the like should definetly not be included.

As for software, in general, they indeed are way too broad and include too many features to the point most of them are useless and it slow down the whole thing.
I'm all for small, simple, fast, efficient and elegant apps which do their job well, period.
I'm not against software suites, as long as each software of that suite is available alone.

I'll go even farther and say that I miss the time when I could uninstall an app simply by deleting the folder I did install it to; it was easy, fast and plain simple, I was sure that everything app related was right here, and didn't have to wonder whether the uninstall process did or not delete all the stuff it might have spread all around my harddrive...

I think there's room for simple, straight to the point apps, and OS, and I wonder when we'll start to see them come back again.

 

[Deathlike2]

It used to be that more stuff supported in software would be better... but then that just expanded into integrated more and more stuff that you realize that you wouldn't use even half the time.

So... you can blame users on wanting more sometimes.. but the direction of programmers are to add more junk to existing junk that weren't really asked for in the first place...

I've always been annoyed of Adobe when it was used with any internet browser and it always continued to reside in memory after a webpage loaded up the .pdf file... I really don't understand why the heck would they expand the format to support some 3D rendering or sorts in a PDF file.. and this is why I've stopped using Adobe's software and used some free PDF viewer software which was less than 1MB to download.

I think there is free software around that still does the job for most things, the best part is that it generally smaller and does what you need it to do for the most part.

 

[_xxx_]

Well, say thanks to the marketing idiots for all that. I don't think it'll go away, everyone wants our money.

 

[Npl]

It used to be that more stuff supported in software would be better... but then that just expanded into integrated more and more stuff that you realize that you wouldn't use even half the time.

There are Programs out that do it right, take Opera: It has an incredible Amount of feature, some of which I will never use like the irc-client, yet it stays small and doesnt throws anything in your way. In fact you dont know about the features until you look for them.

As powerfull as Nero 7 might be, I cant see how its taking 100 Megabytes compressed

 

[_xxx_]

I think there's room for simple, straight to the point apps, and OS, and I wonder when we'll start to see them come back again.

Here is a good place to start. They continued the development of the former BeOS.

But you'll be rather unlucky if you're looking for a vast range of apps/games there...

EDIT:

As powerfull as Nero 7 might be, I cant see how its taking 100 Megabytes compressed

I just looked at the Nero6 installation I have here. Nero (core part) is about 40MB and all the other stuff is just a few MB each. Just FYI, I don't know how it relates to Nero7

 

[Diplo]

I'm reminded of Zawinki's law, which was coined back in the 90's:

Every program attempts to expand until it can read mail. Those programs which cannot so expand are replaced by ones which can.

 

[Blazkowicz]

ok, I take note.. nero 7 = bad. the core nero program has always been good but it seems they like to add more and more crap every time.. nero express, nero this, nero fuck up, etc.
last time I had a burner on my PC, I didn't feel like finding an old nero CD or warezing nero so I put CD Burner XP pro (the name sucks but it's freeware and it works.)

Sadly, it's up to you to not get infected buy such amounts of crap.
( general advice for everyone follows : )
If you want to use acrobat reader, download version 5.1 and uncheck the checkbox on the window that nags you when it tells you to update.. Or now, I use Fox-it Reader, which is fast, but with no mozilla plugin.
Hunt for the Windows option to disable all autoplay on all CD drives, autoplay is an annoyance and even a security risk (sony trojan on audio CDs)
When installing software for the webcam or whatever.. Put the CD, don't suffer from autoplay launching the autosetup which will install useless crap and a systray icon. Install only the driver, instead.

Stay away from Norton, it's the worse stuff even invented ever. Norton is almost malware. I find Kapersky to be slow and bloated, it's surely not as bad as Norton ; but if you want an AV, get Free AVG (which I use, fast and no invading crap!) or Avast. (and maybe get Ad-aware SE, but you almost never get spyware if you don't use IE. For the firewall, I don't care, I'm behind Windows firewall + NAT)
Stay away from iTunes, it's a useless media player which installs useless quicktime and whatever.

if you have crap, make use of add/remove programs, msconfig, services.msc ;
at last, a simple advice : delete the useless crap in the start menu, even if you don't use the start menu often, it's feels like getting a breath of fresh air.

I have no need to get control back : good software doesn't take it away from me.

 

[Rodéric]

Here is a good place to start. They continued the development of the former BeOS.

But you'll be rather unlucky if you're looking for a vast range of apps/games there...

Being a BeOS fan (have bought BeOS5 and was still using it last year, from time to time), I'm very well aware of Zeta (which is the 6th letter of the greek aplhabet, clearly meaning BeOS6)
I'm waiting for Zeta 1.5 which will have multi user support to reconsider it.
(Also gonna move to most up to date GCC, and tweak various things.)

Ah the pleasure of using an OS which don't steal your focus, have per app volume control, is fast, responsive, doesn't eat all resources for itself, and just work...
[But doesn't have OpenGL, so it's a problem to me.]

 

[Diplo]

I have no need to get control back : good software doesn't take it away from me.

Well, yeah, I know how to do all this, but the point is I shouldn't have to!

I have spent literally ages going through the registry (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run is the first place to look!) and disabling unwanted services, removing items integrated into the shell etc. I know what I'm doing, but your average PC user won't. Also, some software is damn insidious. Take iTunes : I removed it's background helper service and deleted it's enteries from the registry so it wouldn't run it's damn service all the time. However, run it a few times and it adds them back. It's a constant fight, and it shouldn't have to be.

It really should be down to the companie's involved to make more explicit in their installers exactly what is going on, whether you want to install 'Option X' and what it will do. So small print in a 10,000 line EULA is not what I call explicit, either. They should also make sure their damn uninstallers remove everything and don't leave junk around. It shouldn't be down to me to do all this.

 

[pcchen]

The reason why Nero "bloated" is simple: you can't just keep selling burning softwares. The OEM prices are going down, and OS are incorporating burning functions. These Nero things are just an attempt to find something new which can ride on their burning engine.

This also partly answered the question why softwares bloated. People think softwares are easy to develop. We still hear some customers say something like "you have no cost!" or "it's cheap to press a CD so your softwares should be as cheap." This sort of attitude is driving out the smaller software houses and those who survived have to rely on "bloated" software to convine these people that they are still developing something and that costs money.

Some developers try to make some money from retail, but most failed. Really, how many people buy retail softwares (other than games)? Others try to integrate their softwares with "services." That's why you see many softwares trying to phone home on every chance.

So the reason of bloated softwares is not marketing, it's the market.

 

[Diplo]

The reason why Nero "bloated" is simple: you can't just keep selling burning softwares.

Yeah, that was my conclusion, too. Things like Microsoft Word suffered the same fate - they did what they were needed to do a few generations ago and so end up having extra stuff added in simply to justify the bi-annual update to Office.

What I bet happens, too, is that the marketing people go, "You need a new angle to keep selling this CD burning software - how about an integrated media player? Wouldn't that be cool! Woo hoo!". Then the developers go, "No, that sucks" and then the management go, "Yay, that's brilliant! Do it!". Then the developers go, "Well, in order to incorporate all those changes you want we really need to start from scratch and design the software properly with the new objectives in mind." Then management go, "No, we can't afford that, can't you just bolt it on to the existing product?". The developers shake their head and say, "Well, I suppose, but it will probably be buggy and slow". Management go, "Who cares? Does it compile? Ship it!!!"

 

[suryad]

To fight bloat

Get a download of nLite. Lurk in the msfn forums to figure out how to decrease the size of your XP install cd to 98 mb with SP2 adn all post SP2 updates!!!

Get and stick with Nero 6 if you need to use Nero. Dont upgrade to 7.

Dont use Adobe Reader. Use Foxit reader.

 

[Richard]

I very much agree with you Diplo. Big downloads don't impress me and even though my system could handle it I still prefer efficient applications.

If you want to unbloat Windows I heartly recommend nLite. My current windows installation is from a customised 160mb Windows nLite CD. After boot I have a fully functional windows and only 11 processes loaded. I already have a new Windows nLite version waiting to be installed which is only 140mb on the CD (for comparison a regular XP CD with SP2 already slipstreamed is over 600mb so imagine the dross I don't have to deal with).

Also check out http://tinyapps.org/ for the most efficient applications; from their FAQ:

To qualify for TinyApps, a program must:
-Not exceed 1.44mb
-Not be adware
-Not require the VB/MFC/.NET runtimes. Also, preference is given to apps which are 100% self-contained, requiring no installation, registry changes, etc.
-Preferably be free, and ideally offer source code. Shareware will only be listed if there is no freeware alternative.

Some efficient apps I use are Media Player Classic, Opera and ATI Tray Tools.

 

[Diplo]

Yeah, I did my last installation with nLite, it's a great tool. I also agree Opera is amazing - it packs so much into it's tiny size without ever being intrusive. There are things you can do to reduce the bloat, but really my point was that bloated software is becoming the norm and was wondering what the reasons where?

Actually, I did find quite a good article on Wikipedia about software bloat:

Some of the observed bloat is caused simply by the addition of new features and content, such as templates, or by the use of higher-level programming languages. However, at other times the cause may be a programmer's lack of attention to optimization or design, often frowned upon by other programmers as a sign of carelessness or laziness. As a result, the emphasis in software design could be argued to have shifted away from tightness of design, algorithms and resource usage. Instead, time-to-market can have been seen to become the key.

The extra time needed to optimize software delays time-to-market, losing some potential sales and increasing labor costs. The improvement in quality due to optimization was previously thought to more than make up for these costs, but with modern hardware, it is now more common that the payoff from optimization is too small to justify it.

 

[Deathlike2]

Hmm.. I agree with the opinion on software bloat.. but in other instances though.. time-to-market causes many more annoying things such as really annoying bugs (insufficent QA testing) and critical/important useful features missing...

Optimization is still important though.. I remember a time when some version of Everquest was out.. they offered coupons or something for RAM upgrades... that's when you know there is a problem... I'm sure BF2 doesn't really need 2GB of memory if properly optimized...

 

[ANova]

Rest assured all this DRM crap is aiding in the bloat factor as well.

 

[doob]

Q: Why is software becoming more bloated and intrusive?
A: It's a mere reflection of some human nature characteristics(persuasion, corruption etc..). Sometimes to reach a good deed, majority isn't.

 

[Ken2012]

Anyone wanna comment on AOL? During my usage of it, I found it to be a horrible, horrible thing to have on your HDD. "AOHell" indeed.