The marketers won (mostly). In place of valuable and sustainable innovation, we have more features, new designs, and costlier means to achieve the same goals we have always had. My primary business tools are more or less the same as twenty-five years ago when I first started college: a word processor, email client, web browser, calendar, printer, and mobile phone.
Microsoft Windows has, more or less, reverted to its Windows 95 user interface, though it crashes less. Word is more focused on collaboration (which most people do not rely upon), and the crucial components like spell check, track changes, document comparison, and footnotes are virtually the same. Email clients still use IMAP and Exchange protocols and the same UI design. Web browsers are more standards-based, so sites function more consistently, but their ability to run cloud-based applications is vastly underutilized. Calendars and printers are virtually identical to their historical counterparts. Phones changed drastically in the mid to late aughts, but outside of dramatically improved cameras and network speeds, they do the same things as my trusty old Palm Pilot.
While this is a gross over-simplification, the fact remains that technology development, especially for consumers and small businesses, is more about the packaging than what lies beneath. Perhaps even more troubling is that updated iterations of programs offer slight substantive improvements but then also add features that slow down how users work.
The landscape is not entirely barren, however. Most ground-breaking developments over the past twenty years have been done in the cloud (this includes AI experiments like ChatGPT). While these advancements are more congruent with a subscription model (because the software is being provided as a service) that appears to increase user costs, the computers consumers purchase need not be expensive powerhouses to access these new innovations.
My dream for the future is for technological developments to focus on simpler tools delivered more efficiently, accessibly, and cost-effectively. Once the infrastructure for high-speed networks is in place, the focus should be on cloud development paid for by consumers on a subscription basis. Finally, our computers, tablets, and phones can be constructed much more cost-effectively, leveraging cloud-based systems in favor of local hardware. Consumers will have more predictable expenses and less downtime because larger companies constantly maintain cloud services and personal computers can quickly and cheaply be replaced without complex configuration. This model also benefits developing communities as costs are more easily defrayed on those who can pay more because the cheapest part of the equation on the consumer side becomes the computer and everything else is a service.
With a little bit of a learning curve, most people can get everything they need from a computer by purchasing a $300 laptop running an open operating system like Ubuntu, open office software like Libre Office, free web browsers like Firefox, Chrome, or Chromium, and free email clients like Thunderbird. With the help of subsidized broadband and other cloud-based services, everyone can be positioned to benefit from our technological golden age.
To sum up: fewer features and more accessibility.