I used to use so many programs on my computer, and now I just use a few. Every day. Used to be a vast array. I built lists of what I had installed, especially the free things, in case I had to reinstall.
I think it was a lot easier to task-switch when everything I did used a different application. Not to mention applications were more performant (after things loaded into memory). /@morrick
The cost of loading an application meant I tended to be less flippant in my tasks… Not that that's ideal, but I think it offset the *benefit* of modern tasks generally revolving around the same few applications.
Feels like I changed more than the applications. I used to spend a lot of time on applications, learning menus, shortcuts. I just don't open my start menu anymore.