In 1995 computing pioneer Niklaus Wirth wrote "A Plea for Lean Software". In 2024 it is entirely normal for simple software to be shipped as a 350MB package, or for it to have 1600 dependencies. In appreciation of Wirth's legacy, I wrote a 2024-era Plea for Lean Software, updated for today's computing horrors: https://berthub.eu/articles/posts/a-2024-plea-for-lean-software/