Garbage collected languages are fine for the desktop, there's plenty of software written in C# or Java that performs perfectly fine. It's mostly the web stack that tends to be bloated and slow.
Name me a C# or Java desktop program that doesn't have annoying GC pauses or stutters. Name me a C# or Java desktop program that isn't bloated and slow compared to the equivalent C++ program.
Programmers choose GC languages because it's what they want, not what users want.
Programmers choose GC languages because it's what they want, not what users want.