Software-optimization Memes

Software developers have taken the "unused RAM is wasted RAM" philosophy and weaponized it against their users. Sure, your 2026 edition does the exact same thing as the 2009 version, but now it requires 8GB of RAM because... efficiency? The dev's smug justification using this mantra falls apart the moment you try to open literally anything else on your machine. Your browser tabs? Gone. Your IDE? Swap file territory. That Spotify instance you forgot about? The OS just sacrificed it to the memory gods. The philosophy isn't wrong—operating systems DO use "free" RAM for caching to speed things up. But there's a difference between the OS intelligently managing memory and your Electron app deciding it needs half a gig to display a settings menu. Just because RAM exists doesn't mean your bloated application gets to claim it all like some digital manifest destiny.