2GB laptop here, I can run several qt5 applications, with Electron I would bring to its knees with just three.

Ripcord instead of Discord and Slack.

Or a bitlbee gateway + IRSSI.

Yeah if all text works for you doing a bridge through IRC is the way to go. I think weechat also has some add on for discord, slack, and element

Any of these is suffice but I thought it was nice adding a mention of a lightweight Qt application.

I can do this but cannot do that at the same time.

Having 2Gb is pretty limited

Yes it is true, but in terms of CPU, there is an issue too... (Lots of sub-processes by apps, means higher context switching, etc.)

And If I need 32GB and 16-CPU to run 5 or 6 apps...

Asimov was right after all :)

Why is it the minimum though? Have we ever thought of that? I have 8 GB and it is increasingly becoming a problem and I will have to upgrade just because I want to have a browser and IntelliJ open.

Yes, It reminds me when Java has been released for the first time.

The mantra was : "Yes, pretty slow but don't panic, in a couple of months better hardware will fix that" !!

Hate to tell you, but 8GB is quite common across IT departments in 2020.

Then people with 8Gb laptops are limited to what they could do.

Hardware matters more than people

Do you really wants to limit your folks in such way for something like $150?

$150 is one month salary in quite a few countries actually.

My personal laptop has 8 GB, is 10 years old by now, I am not limited in anything I care about.

In what world? In many parts of the world, the only machine people can afford have 4-8Gb RAM, And those machines cost a month pay.

So what? This is a business decision. You’re not likely to be a customer so why bother spending the effort?