Computers have already shrunk from White House-sized machines te devices the size of a stamp, but with most of its programs, it's the other way around... Unfortunately, Microsoft Windows 95+ engineers refuse to program their latest productions in such a way the program immediately appears when clicked on its icon. When trying to run your Windows-deviced programs without being bothered by enormous slow-downs and annoying system-hangups, you'll have to face reality: enormous amounts are spend on the latest hardware, while the internet can be accessed, and homework can be done on a fail-safe 486 with an average modem (56k6 for instance). While playing the latest games, a pentium III is of course strongly recommended (and is an enormous help for making lots of new friends). Besides for above mentioned game-addicts, the only reason why the average PC user needs to replace his system every six months, is that new hardware is needed to avoid the slow-downs caused by the latest Windows versions.
Microsoft programmers aren't the only ones lacking compassion; nowadays, publishers of (even non-Microsoft) programs don't even seem to be bothered about including DOS-drivers for those who refuse to follow in this post-DOS environmental hell.