The Death of SaaS: Welcome to the Age of Disposable Software

The Problem with Feature Bloat

Most software is built like a permanent product. It is polished, packed with features, and designed for millions of users. But most people only use a small fraction of what they are given.

Researchers at Samsung have reported that the vast majority of smartphone features are rarely or never used by typical customers. While the exact percentage depends on how you measure it, the pattern is clear. Modern software is bloated relative to actual usage.

Educational software is a good example. Platforms include dashboards, gamification systems, analytics, social features, and multiple learning tracks. But a parent helping one child may need only a small slice of that functionality. Most tools are not easily customizable, yet they come with layers of features that go untouched.

Disposable Software as an Alternative

With AI, a tech-savvy parent can generate a simple, focused learning app tailored exactly to their child. Choose the topic. Adjust the difficulty. Remove everything unnecessary. When the child masters multiplication, discard the tool and generate a new one for fractions.

No subscription. No feature bloat. No long-term commitment.

Instead of software as a permanent product, think of software as a temporary utility. Build exactly what you need for a specific task, use it, and move on. As AI lowers the cost of creation, custom software no longer needs to be rare or expensive. In a world where software is easy to generate, permanence becomes optional.