Progress.

Is it just me or does each new incremental version of a program or OS component (or even security patch, so we can seal off another tiny hole in Microsoft Windows "Sponge Edition") actually make that program and seemingly the entire computer run just that little bit slower, eventually necessitating a huge money outlay every couple of years just to be able to do the same old stuff you've always been able to do?

I remember thinking my PowerPC 604e-based tower ran like a bat out of hell when I first installed Mac OS 8 on it. It was pretty, the icons and fonts pleasing, I could use photos for the desktop, programs launched instantaneously unless they were large important ones, in which case they launched after just a few tolerable seconds. Everything seemed very responsive, even when multitasking. I surfed the internet, shared files, listened to music, played 3D online games with voice communication.

Almost ten years later, I have a computer that should be five times or so faster than that one, and yet everything seems to drag, multitasking brings it to its knees, the internet connection seems slow even though it's cable, nothing open instantaneously anymore, text messaging programs need 100mb of RAM to run, so do email programs, and browsers and the Finder - oops, I mean Windows Explorer - use way more than that to carry out what should be simple tasks. And just to give me a nice extra little kick in the keeblers, it crashes a lot more often and has funky problems with using more than one optical drive.

"Progress" sucks.