Bloatware - will it ever end?!

I'm sitting here trying to install Nero Express disc - burning software, which came with my LG CD / DVD Multiwriter. First off, I have to install 'SecureDisc viewer' before I can do anything. I hate installing stuff just to do with one program, but hey, it's German and they do these things. I'm trying to avoid installing a huge suite, all I want to do is record CD's / DVD's. What it installed last time was huge! Is anything simple any more?

I just finished installing Pinnacle Studio 8, which comes on 2 CD's. It's 2004 vintage, and takes up all of about 386 mb. on the hard drive. It does everything well. A couple of years later I invested in Pinnacle Studio 9, then 10 ... I haven't bothered with 11 or the recently released 12. The reasons are simple. They are approximately 10 times bigger than Studio 8. Somehow Pinnacle managed to go from 400 meg to 4 gigabytes in a few years, with about 30% greater functionality, give or take.

In other words, it's got 10 times bigger but not 10 times better, or 10 times more functional. As I am reistalling everything ( my computer needed a clean 'sweep' of the drive ) every disc I pick up sends a shiver down my spine. Office 2003? Massive. What do I want to do? - write letters. I use it for nothing else. Why does it take 100's of megabytes to do what ran on a mid 1980's 8088 machine?

The more I look at all this bloated stuff, the more I am liking shareware. I plan to investigate it further, because I don't want my Hard drive crammed with programs designed so that I only ever use 5% of what they offer.