Why such a difference between the sizes of applications?

Question

Programming

Why are some popular proprietary programs tens of hundreds of times larger in size (occupied disk space) than their open source counterparts. Programs from giants (Adobe, Microsoft...) are often gigantic in size.

Of course, I understand what to take the same Photoshop and GIMP: the capabilities of the programs are decently different, but so much?! Or MySQL vs SQL Server: very similar software, it is clear that the tasks are identical. And where does Microsoft get 2GB of extra binaries from then?

Answer 1

Many non-free programs carry a bunch of their own libs with them, and free ones use ready-made ones - that's the place. Moreover, non-free ones usually drag so much junk purely for compatibility - you put it “out of the box” - and so that everything works regardless of what the user still has, so that there are no version conflicts and other garbage, as a result, they are bursting as much as mom don’t cry . I once installed a softinka ported from Linux - this is how it drags its qigwin. Well, this is one maaaalenkaya softinka. And now imagine something more pobol, with guev things, and how many mega external libs is this? If a user sells this with instructions to install 25 additional packages before installing the main program, then the user of the developer will send nafig. So they shove, shove, shove, so that happiness comes with one click.
Well, also consider localization for more than a dozen languages, docks in different languages, graphic themes ...
For phones, there are all sorts of drivers in every way, for example, they shove.

Answer 2

If you're looking at the total size of the app folder, then it's DLL Hell .

Answer 3

Here is another example (though not quite perfect, because the small one is also closed):
Small CD Writer and Nero Express: 0.396 Mb vs 30+ Mb

Answer 4

The more the program weighs, the more expensive it can be sold.

Answer 5

Well, you need to look at what exactly takes up space. Not the "main" binary itself. All sorts of additional binaries, tools, etc., most of them have all sorts of pdfs, docks, examples, and so on.
> MySQL vs SQL Server
> Small CD Writer and Nero Express
Well, you compare me too.

Answer 6

some use winapi, others don't)

Answer 7

Easter eggs, non-optimized code, code "in reserve" ...

Answer 8

Fact #21:
A 25% increase in the complexity of a problem results in a 100% complexity in the software solution. This is not a condition that you can try to change (although it is always desirable to minimize the complexity), this is the real state of affairs.
(c) Facts and fallacies of professional programming. Robert Glass

Answer 9

It is also important under what OS it all happens. Windows versions of popular freeware programs often also carry everything with them, while in their native Linux these programs rely on libraries already installed on the system.
Hard drives are now large, but I don’t want to risk the performance of programs that may require different versions of libraries.
Windows has already solved the issue of parallel storage of different versions of libraries, but I don’t know what is happening with this in Linux now, it’s interesting to hear it myself.