Have modern softwares improved or embroiled latest 15 years ??

[Knabbjolf]

Dear fora.
Iam a average computer user. 
99.99% of my computer usage of my laptops, tablets and phones is used for browsing around the web looking for gadgets, emailing, social forum, skyping, writing a document or spread sheet and personal economy. Iam using my devices in exact same manner and for exact same purposes as I used my xp computer 15 years ago, some of my spreadsheets Iam using today was created more than 15years ago but today it is impossible using my 15 year old computer for exact same purposes which raises the question :

- Have software improved or embroiled from a user perspective the latest 15 years ? 

The reason I cant use my 15 year old win xp computer is not hardware, the computer functions excellent everytime winxp is cleaned or reinstalled (as with win 10 today) but problems arise if I want to connect to internet as every operator, company and government must track what Iam doing choking my computer and internet connection beyond usable. Today as 15 years ago I sometimes watches videos on youtube, answering a couple of emails, calls a friend over skype and looking for more ram memory on amazon, exact same as 15 years ago but today I need at minimum 4gb ram, dual/quad core cpu on a 1 gb fiber connection just to get around and get things done without major hickups. 15 years ago my single core atom cpu with 1gb ram was executing these tasks excellent over a hsdpa 3g mobile phone connection, there was no problem watching youtube videos, calling over skype etc so what is better today for me as a user ?

 

Further, why is my computer today just as slow as my 15 year old xp computer, why is it not 4 times faster ? Why do my computer still need 30-45 seconds boot time(with SSD) before it can receive and execute any command ? Why do I have to pay 4 times more expensive internet connection for doing exact same I did 15 years ago on a more than 4 times smaller bandwitdth connection ? Is it because of others must spy on what Iam doing ? Do I need a 4 times more resource hungry computer hardware so companies can play their advetising jingles to waste my time when accessing a website ? The improved video quality and sound quality is hardly noticable today as for 15 years ago, at least not justifying 4 times higher price, my computer still needs buffering a video or website sometimes allthough I have a verified 1gb connection so exactly what is 4 times better today with my 4 times more expensive, resource hungy, slow equipment ? And why is not alternatives as Linux improving, why are most Linux distributions following same path of software-rot and bloat as microsoft ? (perhaps I should clarify my stand on advertising here : A good product sells it self, it is all the useles shit that needs convincing(advertising) for being sold, if you are smart you avoid all products being advertised as these are so crappy not even the seller believes in them as the seller buys expensive advertising to convince you purchasing a underperforming product. If the procuct is good the seller would include testdata in their expensive adverts).

So, question remains, why is there no demands of higher effectiveness on software using hardware better and faster in user experience as this is a high demand to everything else in our society ? of course win 10 execute a lot more processes today than win xp but to what purpose for the user ? My new computer is still as slow as my 15 year old laptop when I need it. The path we are "evolving" along now seems to be a dead end, using 4 times more resources every 10-15th year without any improvement in speed for the user is not evolution, it is embroilment and the major problem appears to be software not evolving.

//K.Jolf

[NunoLava1998]

Websites, apps, etc. today have much more content. Plus, a 1GB Atom computer costs about the same as what a 4-8GB Pentium/Ryzen computer would cost today. 

also wtf 30-45s boot time on an SSD? It takes 5 seconds for me...

[LogicalDrm]

Same reason why everything costs more, why phones get bigger and bigger and bring in features nobody asked for. Why games take close to 100Gb of space. People are too comfy to just enjoy what they get. Voting with your wallet isn't a thing anymore. Just look at Apple commercials few years back. Practically same hardware in new package, and everyone was exited. Before smartphones phones were going smaller and smaller. Now its complete opposite. Why? Because tech companies think thats what everybody wants. And why they think that? Because everyone keeps buying those flagship phones with biggest screens, biggest camera etc.

 

There's actually really old panel discussion with some game devs from that 15 years ago. One of them mentioned demoscene, a coders competitions. One of the objectives in those competitions is to create as beautiful graphics and content packed in file size smaller than regular mp3 file. If that mentality would be with every coder, while same time execs would go user first, then software would be more streamlined, packed with features and run on your watch. But its much more profitable to add small things yearly and suck every penny out of consumers.

[kelvinhall05]

Sort of unrelated, but you sound like the perfect use case for a Chromebook. All you do can be done in a browser or with Skype.