[adrian_b]

While that is true, most of the current complexity has nothing to do with enabling the present computers to do far more.

Most of the complexity is caused either by the need to provide backward compatibility or by the fact that the many parties who design the components of a computer had very different ideas about which is the right way to design them (so many compatibility layers are required) or by the fact that the manufacturers insist on implementing various additional features that are not really needed, because they may be useful for them even if they are harmful for the final owner of the computer.

Many of the most horrible features of the modern computers have been caused by the fact that Microsoft could not be bothered to implement in their operating systems certain features whose right place was inside the OS and Intel has kept piling workarounds over workarounds in their CPUs, one more ugly than the other, like the System Management Mode and the Management Engine.

[BizarroLand]

Well, maybe, at least for Windows. If they rewrote their whole stack from the ground up for Win 12, eliminated everything that wasn't performant, and gave everyone the tools needed to adapt, 2 things would happen:

1: Windows would be insanely fast and incredibly unlikely to ever bog down or bluescreen for any reason, and 95% of my gripes with it as an IT professional would vanish into digital smoke.

2: Microsoft would be eaten alive by all of the people and companies suddenly finding the money and time to switch to Linux/OSX or just plain refusing to upgrade because an old printer driver or some bit of obscure hardware that only 13 people in the world use won't work on the new windows kernel without an extensive rewrite and the company that made it doesn't exist anymore.