I think this hits the nail on the head and you can see lots of examples of companies worsening their product overall by trying to add features that go beyond its scope, e.g. trying to capture away the role of other products. In my opinion, smart TVs are an example.
I often find myself asking: Is this product designed to help the consumer achieve what they want to achieve, or is it designed to steer the user into what the designer wants to achieve? Sometimes this perspective is really illuminating, e.g. for some websites and how they make information available/discoverable.
Of course, there's also another aspect you're getting at, feature creep: If you're designing a product you really care about, it's hard to keep perspective and know when to stop versus a "more is better" mentality. I can understand/relate to that a bit better. But anyway, one thing I like about Linux is that I very rarely feel any of these criticisms apply.
I often find myself asking: Is this product designed to help the consumer achieve what they want to achieve, or is it designed to steer the user into what the designer wants to achieve? Sometimes this perspective is really illuminating, e.g. for some websites and how they make information available/discoverable.
Of course, there's also another aspect you're getting at, feature creep: If you're designing a product you really care about, it's hard to keep perspective and know when to stop versus a "more is better" mentality. I can understand/relate to that a bit better. But anyway, one thing I like about Linux is that I very rarely feel any of these criticisms apply.