Software in 2025 runs slower than software from 2015 despite hardware being dramatically faster. This performance regression affects nearly every category of software.

The Performance Crisis

Startup times: Applications that launched instantly 10 years ago now take 5-30 seconds.

Memory consumption: Simple apps consuming gigabytes of RAM for basic functionality.

Battery drain: Mobile apps killing batteries in hours when similar functionality used to last days.

Network overhead: Constant background syncing, telemetry, and feature checks consuming bandwidth.

Disk usage: Applications requiring 5-10GB when equivalent functionality once fit in megabytes.

What Caused the Slowdown

Electron and Web Technologies

Desktop apps built with Electron (essentially Chrome browser + web app) sacrificed performance for development convenience.

Slack: Chat app consuming 1GB+ RAM and 500MB+ disk space. IRC clients did similar functionality in 5MB RAM.

Discord: Similar bloat to Slack. Faster than Slack but still heavy compared to native alternatives.

VS Code: Relatively efficient for Electron, but still heavier than native code editors.

The tradeoff: Easier cross-platform development, slower performance, higher resource usage.

Framework Bloat

JavaScript frameworks got larger and slower:

React, Angular, Vue: Modern frameworks ship megabytes of JavaScript for basic applications.

Dependency trees: Simple projects depending on hundreds of npm packages, each adding overhead.

Build tooling: Webpack, Babel, and bundlers adding complexity and size.

Web apps are now as resource-intensive as desktop apps used to be.

Feature Accumulation

Software adding features without optimizing core performance:

Microsoft Office: Word 2025 launches slower than Word 2010 despite faster computers.

Adobe Photoshop: Startup times measured in 30+ seconds on high-end machines.

Operating systems: Windows 11 and macOS Ventura slower than previous versions on same hardware.

Features added without removing legacy code. Technical debt accumulated.

Telemetry and Analytics

Every application tracking everything:

Usage analytics: Constant monitoring of user behavior.

Crash reporting: Background processes watching for errors.

A/B testing: Loading variants of features for testing.

Update checking: Continuous checking for new versions.

Each adds overhead. Combined, they significantly impact performance.

Poorly Optimized AI Features

AI features added in 2024-2025 often poorly optimized:

Cloud processing: Sending data to cloud, waiting for results, displaying output.

Local models: Running large AI models locally consuming RAM and CPU.

Background processing: AI features running whether you use them or not.

The rush to add AI features meant performance optimization was secondary.

Abstraction Layers

Modern software stack abstraction:

Layer 1: Operating system Layer 2: Runtime environment (Electron, JVM, etc.) Layer 3: Framework (React, Django, etc.) Layer 4: Application code Layer 5: Libraries and dependencies

Each layer adds overhead. Simple operations traverse multiple abstraction layers.

Older software wrote closer to hardware, reducing overhead at the cost of development complexity.

Cloud Dependencies

Software that requires constant cloud connectivity:

Office 365: Local apps that won’t function without server verification.

Adobe Creative Cloud: Desktop apps checking licenses constantly.

Game launchers: Games requiring launcher software to run.

Network latency and server dependencies slow everything down.

Lazy Loading and Async Patterns

Modern apps loading everything asynchronously:

Delayed UI: Interfaces loading in pieces, buttons appearing seconds after window opens.

Janky scrolling: Content loading while scrolling, creating stutter.

Perpetual loading states: Spinners replacing instant feedback.

Async loading helps perceived performance sometimes, but often just creates slower, jankier experiences.

The Hardware Illusion

“Moore’s Law means we don’t need to optimize” thinking:

2015: Software optimized to run on available hardware. 2025: Software assumes users have top-end hardware and doesn’t optimize.

But many users don’t upgrade computers frequently. 5-year-old computers run 2025 software poorly despite being fast when new.

What Still Runs Fast

Software that prioritized performance:

Sublime Text: Code editor that launches instantly, consumes minimal RAM.

Blender: Complex 3D software that’s faster than many simple apps through optimization.

Video games: Competitive games optimize aggressively for frame rate.

Terminal applications: Command-line tools remain fast by avoiding GUI overhead.

SQLite: Database that’s faster than web-based alternatives through local-first design.

The pattern: Software where performance is competitive advantage stays fast. Software where performance doesn’t affect purchasing decisions gets slow.

Mobile Performance Collapse

Mobile apps got dramatically slower:

App size: Simple apps now 100MB+. Banking apps exceeding 200MB.

Launch time: Apps taking 3-5 seconds to become interactive.

Background processes: Apps running in background draining battery.

Update frequency: Weekly updates requiring large downloads.

iOS and Android both got slower through versions despite faster phone hardware.

What Users Lost

Instant feedback: Click a button, wait for response. Used to be instant.

Offline capability: Modern apps require internet for basic functionality.

Battery life: Software optimized for plugged-in desktop use drains mobile batteries.

Older hardware support: Software requiring latest hardware, making old devices obsolete faster.

Disk space: Large app sizes limit what fits on devices.

The Economic Reality

Performance optimization costs developer time:

Optimization takes time: Profiling, refactoring, testing requires skilled engineering.

Features ship faster: Adding features looks better than optimizing existing ones.

Users tolerate slowness: Complaints about performance don’t prevent software purchases.

Hardware upgrades shift blame: Slow software? Buy a faster computer. Not the software’s fault.

Economic incentives favor feature addition over performance optimization.

What Companies Could Do

Performance budgets: Set maximum resource usage and stay under it.

Remove features: Delete unused features to reduce bloat.

Optimize hot paths: Profile and optimize frequently-used code paths.

Native development: Build native apps instead of web wrappers.

Efficient frameworks: Choose lighter frameworks or avoid them entirely.

Test on old hardware: Ensure software runs on 5-year-old computers.

Most companies won’t do this. It costs money without obvious revenue benefit.

What Users Can Do

Use lightweight alternatives: Choose fast software over feature-rich bloat.

Disable telemetry: Turn off analytics and crash reporting when possible.

Keep old versions: Sometimes older software versions run faster.

Complain: Performance complaints sometimes lead to optimization.

Vote with money: Support software companies that prioritize performance.

Use web versions: Sometimes web apps are lighter than desktop apps (ironic given Electron).

The Regression Examples

Comparison tests show how much slower modern software is:

Word 2025 vs. Word 2010: Slower startup, slower document opening, higher RAM usage.

Slack vs. IRC: 200x more RAM for similar functionality.

Modern web vs. 2010 web: Pages 10-50x larger, slower loading despite faster connections.

Windows 11 vs. Windows 7: Slower on same hardware for many operations.

macOS Sonoma vs. Snow Leopard: Dramatic performance regression.

Looking to 2026

Performance will continue degrading unless:

Competition emerges: Fast alternatives take market share from slow incumbents.

Hardware limits hit: Can’t rely on faster computers to compensate for bloat anymore.

User revolt: Enough people demand better performance that it affects purchasing.

Framework evolution: Next-generation frameworks prioritize performance.

Don’t expect voluntary improvement. Performance degradation is the path of least resistance.

The Honest Assessment

Software in 2025 is objectively slower than software from 10 years ago despite running on hardware that’s 10x faster.

This isn’t inevitable. It’s a choice. Companies prioritize feature velocity over performance because that’s what gets funded and shipped.

Users can choose lightweight alternatives, but those are increasingly rare. The industry trend favors bloat over efficiency.

The performance crisis will worsen until economic incentives change. That requires users actually choosing fast software over feature-rich slow software.

Most users complain about performance but keep using slow software. Until that changes, expect things to keep getting slower.