Of course can good abstractions and tools help to make software possible that were practically impossible before. But there is also a tendency to add abstraction layers of questionable value. An Electron-based UI to copy a disk image to an usb stick comes to my mind, e.g. Certainly it is possible to create a GUI for a file to disk copy operation without two JavaScript engines, an html/css renderer, lot's of network code, etc. This is just a silly example, I know. But this happens all the time. That phenomenon isn't even new. Anybody, remember when the first end-user internet providers would all distribute their own software to dial in? In my experience, most problems with the internet access at that time could be fixed by getting rid of that software and entering the phone number and dial-in credentials in their corresponding Windows dialog windows.

>An Electron-based UI to copy a disk image to an usb stick comes to my mind

Subjective. Questionable to you. Nobody is bloating dd

There is definitely bloated software but it's not a huge issue. If it were, then the customer would care. If the customer cares the business would care.

I don’t think the Point of N Ghz + 8 gb ram hardware is for me to sit and stare at a spinning mouse pointer while waiting for the explorer to change to another directory.

I dislike Nautilus too

How’s this take:

What is the minimal computer you can both compile and run Doom on?