[eschneider]

It's true that any app that lives long enough reaches an "optimum" version and then goes downhill from there. For Microsoft Word, for instance, the optimum, or "Elvis" version was "v5.1 for Mac".

[giovannibonetti]

I wonder if it is related to when the most competent team — often the one that created the product — leaves and is replaced by other people that can't maintain the same level of quality.

[JeffSnazz]

Counterpoint: all open-source software. It's obvious what causes this behavior: for-profit software production is a cancer.

[bmacho]

I also believe (and some others) that this optimum version is usually very very early in the life cycle. Around the first stable release.

[eikenberry]

Perl v4 would be another good example.

[pydry]

Ubuntu 10.04

[yellowapple]

Windows 2000