Reminds me of how microsoft office, not having anything new to bring to the table, decide to completely revamp their whole UI passing it for an "update", now everybody has to learn to use word all over again.
That's what I mean when I say there's a superstructure of developers creating unnecessary work just to circulate money.
I code for a living, and it's not just our fault.
It's also the fault of marketing people and management. They think that if we stop adding "features" people will stop buying the software. They're not wrong, especially if it's a one-time purchase. Where they go wrong is that they think this is a bad thing.
Growth uber alles. The line must keep going up, no matter what.
And we developers are complicit because even if we had the balls to say no, we don't have a trade union or professional association to back us up, the way engineers, doctors, lawyers, architects, etc. do. And we don't have a union because too many of us think we're heroes out of a fucking Ayn Rand novel and don't need to engage in collective action.
But without a union, if you refuse to do something that you think is stupid, user-hostile, or unethical you'll just be fired and replaced with somebody who isn't so scrupulous.
I suspect it's not just programmers who have this problem, either. If you want to make a living in corporate America, you've got to be willing and able to at least pretend to be a little Eichmann.
I see what you mean by the timing and annoyance of such changes/improvements to software. For me (insanely) I end up taking issue with a thing that hasn't changed, years into using it and it not changing, only to realize my muscle memory out-paces itself and I want to do something other than that thing for some time (usually apps on my phone). The overzealous Murphy's Martial Law of "all things must fuck up always - to ensure "right things" go awry).
This is psychosis (for me) above all else though, I am sure.
Consolation(?), better that situation than having a Nexus 5X where Chrome doesn't work at all, nor any Google service, putting me on Firefox (but I went back to FF long term anyway), but making the phone not unGoogled but Google-less (bad sitch for a Google-first phone like Nexus 5X).