Internet Explorer 8 is here

[nihil]

The building of Apps to use every bit of the current hardware/resources.. or building efficient apps that use few resources.. so the user can run more (different) applications.

Well, for specialist applications such as CAD you would tend to go for the former because the app will generally be run in "dedicated mode" anyway. For other apps you would go for the latter, or should do.

The problems, as I see them are:

1. The rush to get new releases on the market to stay up with competitors.
2. The desire to have new releases with more "features" to encourage people to pay for upgrades.
3. Hardware platforms getting progressively more powerful so allowing sloppy programming, or at least not providing an incentive to make applications as lean and efficient as possible. The mindset almost seems to be: "we can get away with that on today's hardware"?
4.People upgrading software without considering the hardware implications.

Having looked at the "pr0n mode" a bit more, it seems that it is only intended to stop you leaking information to websites you visit.