I think it's down to a misunderstanding about UX design and usability. Basically, a lot of companies seem to get 'minimalistic, lacking in features' confused with 'easy to use', and assume the way to make their software more accessible to the general public is to remove all the more 'complex' features that were there before.
But this isn't the case; good design doesn't mean 'remove every feature except maybe three of them', nor does it mean 'hide features under layers of menus in case they scare newcomers'. It means to make the software easy to understand at a glance, and to make it so people with different use cases can get doing done.
We see the same trend in website design too. An assumption that good design means 'barely anything on screen at any one time'.
> We see the same trend in website design too. An assumption that good design means 'barely anything on screen at any one time'.
A fair criticism, but this attitude largely arose in response to kitchen sink approaches to adding features for every possible use case that was extremely common until relatively recently.
Yes, good features should be added if they help users get what they want done, but it's also fair to push back a bit, and determine whether the feature that a user asked for is really in their best interest. Thinking critically about feature creep is largely a good development.
Oh, I agree with feature creep being something you have to watch out for, and there are definitely examples where adding everything and the kitchen sink has led to virtually unusable products/services (remembers that browser screenshot showing IE with about 20 custom toolbars)
But it's a balancing act overall. You need to know what the users will actually use and what they won't, prioritise things that more of the userbase will get some mileage out of, and move away from the idea that simple or complex is necessary better/good for any product.
But this isn't the case; good design doesn't mean 'remove every feature except maybe three of them', nor does it mean 'hide features under layers of menus in case they scare newcomers'. It means to make the software easy to understand at a glance, and to make it so people with different use cases can get doing done.
We see the same trend in website design too. An assumption that good design means 'barely anything on screen at any one time'.
So yeah, it's due to a UX misunderstanding,