Refers to the increased complexity of software. Modern operating systems and applications are huge in size and complexity in comparison to the software products running in the first personal computers back in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Larger with Each Version
Software tends to get larger and more complex with each version. It is due to many reasons, including the ever-increasing capacities of the computer's resources (memory, disk, network, etc.), which allow programmers to become much less concerned with conservation.
It is also due to the increased number of functions placed in an application for marketing purposes (see bloatware), most of which are not needed by 95% of the users. Another major reason is human nature. People love to do their own thing. The more designers and programmers try to reinvent the wheel, the more effort it takes to put it all back together again. Modern operating systems have to deal with the myriad patches and variations made over the years to accommodate the major applications, which tend to hang on for years longer than expected. After numerous versions, a program's logic can become unbelievably convoluted. See Wirth's law and Freedman's law.
A Note from the Author
From 1963 to 1966, I worked for the Pennsylvania Drivers License Division, programming an IBM 1401 computer. One of the most successful transistor-based computers of its time, our 1401 managed the data for all six million drivers in the state.
The machine had 12K of memory. That's 12,000 characters (there were no bytes then). The master file of all the drivers was some 40 odd reels of magnetic tape (I do regret not taking more pictures back then).
The point is that our department never ordered the extra 4K memory module from IBM, bringing the machine up to its whopping maximum of 16K... it cost many thousands of dollars, and we never found it necessary. Our programs, written in IBM assembly language, first on paper and then transcribed to punch cards, were extremely compact. We saved instructions wherever we could.
There was no graphical interface because there was no screen. We had to get printouts of the contents of memory to debug our programs. We didn't even have an operating system. What for? We just wrote our own input and output routines.
But, we processed an entire state!
Know anyone these days processing a state on their desktop computer with 167,000 times as much memory as we had back then? Software bloat. You betcha. Happy computing!
Alan Freedman
The Good Ole Days
Looking rather geeky (on the left) in those days, I was clowning around with our IBM tech rep for this snapshot. IBMers were always on staff at our installation. Having the relatively new title of "computer programmer" in the early 1960s, we were obligated to wear suits. Love that tie!
Larger with Each Version
Software tends to get larger and more complex with each version. It is due to many reasons, including the ever-increasing capacities of the computer's resources (memory, disk, network, etc.), which allow programmers to become much less concerned with conservation.
It is also due to the increased number of functions placed in an application for marketing purposes (see bloatware), most of which are not needed by 95% of the users. Another major reason is human nature. People love to do their own thing. The more designers and programmers try to reinvent the wheel, the more effort it takes to put it all back together again. Modern operating systems have to deal with the myriad patches and variations made over the years to accommodate the major applications, which tend to hang on for years longer than expected. After numerous versions, a program's logic can become unbelievably convoluted. See Wirth's law and Freedman's law.
A Note from the Author
From 1963 to 1966, I worked for the Pennsylvania Drivers License Division, programming an IBM 1401 computer. One of the most successful transistor-based computers of its time, our 1401 managed the data for all six million drivers in the state.
The machine had 12K of memory. That's 12,000 characters (there were no bytes then). The master file of all the drivers was some 40 odd reels of magnetic tape (I do regret not taking more pictures back then).
The point is that our department never ordered the extra 4K memory module from IBM, bringing the machine up to its whopping maximum of 16K... it cost many thousands of dollars, and we never found it necessary. Our programs, written in IBM assembly language, first on paper and then transcribed to punch cards, were extremely compact. We saved instructions wherever we could.
There was no graphical interface because there was no screen. We had to get printouts of the contents of memory to debug our programs. We didn't even have an operating system. What for? We just wrote our own input and output routines.
But, we processed an entire state!
Know anyone these days processing a state on their desktop computer with 167,000 times as much memory as we had back then? Software bloat. You betcha. Happy computing!
Alan Freedman
The Good Ole Days
Looking rather geeky (on the left) in those days, I was clowning around with our IBM tech rep for this snapshot. IBMers were always on staff at our installation. Having the relatively new title of "computer programmer" in the early 1960s, we were obligated to wear suits. Love that tie!
 | Reproduced with permission from Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. Copyright (c) 1981-2009 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. |
Additional Resources
- McAfee vs. Symantec: Dueling in consumer and enterprise
- Worked for SYMC - products inadequately testedWe rearchitected stuff as it was going out the door. That experience was one more reason I eventually switched to Mac.Working for SYMCYou should have stuck around...Then you could have said to have been part of improving of the process . Just compare Norton...
- Discussion threads 2009-10-30
- Microsoft's Windows 7 challenge: Selling Live services (without being sued)
- What competitors?Other than iLife, who is competing with Live Essentials?These seem like little trivial programs to be fighting over. Besides the people complaining about bloat (Even though these programs don't take up much space), I don't think anyone would complain even if they were included in Windows to begin with.The...
- Discussion threads 2009-10-28
- Less than 24-hours on and a potential Windows 7 Achilles' heel surfaces
- 3 Words for you...Windows Live Essentials...Saves on bloat?It was nothing to do with that. Microsoft have said that they unbundled a lot of things from the OS build as it allowed for easier and more frequent updates.Good point.I use Hotmail but also use Live Mail on my own machines as...
- Discussion threads 2009-10-23
- Google's Schmidt: Mimicking Office completely not 'a good use of our time'
- Commonsense! Please get rid of MS Office!Please do NOT copy anything MS Office has leavethis lethargic conglomeration of software vendorsMS purchased and created the 2G office suitethat is full of security holes.I hope they go their own route and NO one needsa office suite that cost $400+$700 for a companyseat...
- Discussion threads 2009-10-22
- Clients: fat vs. thin, net vs. note
- Can I suggestNetbooks with Win 7. Just installed it on a useless Linux netbook and it works fine and only cost me A$399 (which now is almost the same as US ;-))For once try and rein in your hobby horse and let the students join the new millenium.On and...
- Discussion threads 2009-10-19
- Windows 7 in the real world: 10 PCs under the microscope
- Intel DriversThe Intel drivers submitted to Windows Update (the ones Windows 7 uses by default) absolutely, positively SUCK! Go immediately to the Intel Download Center and download the latest stable drivers for your chipset for Windows 7 (which have been available since mid-September), and I guarantee your results will be...
- Discussion threads 2009-10-14
- WinPatrol 17.0.2010 (Windows)
- The power of multiple programs without the bloat of a security suite. Clean up your Taskbar, ActiveX, Brower and Startup programs. WinPatrol monitors and exposes adware, keyloggers, spyware, worms, cookies, and other malicious software. This program puts you back in control of your computer with no need for constant updates....
- Software downloads 2009-10-12
- New Adobe PDF flaw under attack; Patch coming Tuesday
- Note to all Knuckleheads....The vulnerability affects Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9.1.3 and earlier versions on Windows, Macintosh and UNIXWhy announce at all? Just fix the thingI'm getting really tired of any company that gives the ostensibly obligatory "We're on that!" and then it's some time before the fix comes. These...
- Discussion threads 2009-10-09
- Study: 67% of Mac users would install, try Windows 7 if it was free
- Marketing failureThe irony of course is that changes introduced in Vista mean that anyone could try it free for 4 months.I'm pretty sure that Windows users would also try OSX on the same basis. (Indeed some are helping themselves!)I might try Win 7 for free, but not on my Mac.I'd...
- Discussion threads 2009-10-06
- Dear Palm: Make you own sync software
- On Saturday Palm rebuffed the USB Implementers Forum's (USB-IF) recommendation and released WebOS 1.2.1 which restores syncing between the Pre smartphone and iTunes 9. This whack-a-mole measure/countermeasure between Palm and Apple is a farce that needs to end. Craig Hunter (via...
- Blog posts 2009-10-05
- The month ahead: Can Windows 7 close the Vista flop chapter?
- Win7 cannot completely close the Vista flop chapter. Win7 is still WAY too bloated and inflexible, a take it all or leave it approach. Compare that with Linux where you can use it from a tiny embedded system all the way up to a large server with multiple cores and...
- Discussion threads 2009-09-30
- First Look: Microsoft Security Essentials
- Live OneCareI put Live OneCare on my Vista computer when Vista was new and cranky after my some of my crash problems traced back to the anti-virus I'd installed. I found Live OneCare to work well and be very light on the foot print. No doubt but I'll...
- Discussion threads 2009-09-29
- Windows 7: Upgrades; Microsoft marketing and Apple envy [video]
- when ed mentions the price disparity at the end...Sumi should have had the last line,"You get what you pay for."microsoft shillit is so aparent that ed is a paid for microsoft shill, he doesn't even have the will or urge to hide it. he pretty much quotes what is written...
- Discussion threads 2009-09-28
- Hardware 2.0 - Best software applications/tools/utilities
- Why VMware workstation?Why VMware workstation and not VMware server?That was nice. Only, you do all this stuff in Linux for FREEntYes, whats the difference between the two? ntntI was thinking the same thing......just replacing them with other apps.For example, I use Notepad++ which is open source instead of UltraEdit, and...
- Discussion threads 2009-09-28
- News to know: HP; AT&T; Malware; Twitter; RIM
- Here are today’s notable headlines. You can get News To Know via email alert and RSS daily. For continuous updates see BNET’s around-the-Web tech coverage. Adrian Kingsley-Hughes: Hordes of owners complain of problems with HP Elite Pavilion PCs using Core i7 Ed Bott: Apple...
- Blog posts 2009-09-28
- Linux as Wintel parasite
- You have some questionable ideas.If Microsoft hadn't happened, there still would have been the PC, there still would have been GUIs perhaps a more expensive IBM monopoly one, and there still would have been the opportunity for anyone such as Linus to write a free alternative.I think to even use...
- Discussion threads 2009-09-26
- Linux as Wintel parasite
- When Linus Torvalds choose to tie his new kernel to x86 he did so thinking, quite correctly as it turned out, that Microsoft's tendency to software bloat would provide an unending stream of cheep hardware for Linux developers and users. Great! except there's a side effect: Linux is ultimately dependent...
- Blog posts 2009-09-26
- Can Linux beat the bloat
- I think the whole "bloated" thing is hogwash.There's no such thing.Neither Windows nor Linux are "bloated". Nor is OS/X. You want functionality you have to pay for it. One man's lean and mean is another man's anemic.Functionality simply isn't free.How many lines of code did USB take? How about multi-threading?...
- Discussion threads 2009-09-25
- Which is more reliable, the client or the cloud
- Well . . .Well . . .-If Google's stuff goes down, all I can do is wait.-If my stuff goes down, I can fix it myself. My parents can take it to a repair shop.-My drives? Haven't had an issue in over a year. Maybe two? I forget when I...
- Discussion threads 2009-09-25
- Microsoft buys desktop parallel-computing software maker ISC
- the regulators should stop this dealM$ is an evil monopoly and should not be allowed to buy any company.Sounds great! NT.Hoping this brings massively multi-cpu/gpu supportThis is a technology area they badly need to boost. The future lies with massive numbers of CPU and GPU cores. Bringing in some expertise...
- Discussion threads 2009-09-22
Neighboring Terms
Premier Vendor Content Whitepapers, webcasts & resources from our Power Center Sponsors
SmartPlanet
- Thought-provoking progressive ideas on diverse topics that intersect with technology, business, and life, and matter to the world at large. Visit SmartPlanet
- More from IBM
-
- Can your business work smarter? Learn more about Lotus Symphony
- Learn how to work smarter and optimize cost using the IBM Smart SOA approach Download the eBook
- Smarter ways to make smarter products Read the brief from IBM
