This is important advice for consumer-ish software. But in other areas, it works differently. A product "grows up" as its original user cohort grows up, and that's OK.<p>I saw this in the music creation software space. Products start simple out of necessity. They are a good fit for a cohort of users with simple needs. But as the user cohort advances, they need and want more powerful features. Typically companies add the features to create a "more professional" product, rather than see their existing users jump to a competitor.<p>Of course after (say) 5 years of this, the product is no longer such a great fit for "beginners". So it creates space for a new product to step in, and with a fresh approach. Of course that <i>new</i> product will eventually accrete more features, too. Some manage it better than others, but they all become more complex. And so the wheel turns again.<p>At the same time, plugins provide a safety valve, as well as a way to form partnerships. Plugins can be a way to give certain features an "audition" before maybe rolling them into the product itself (or bundling the plugin, maybe with somewhat tighter integration than before).<p>TL;DR Products have a natural cohort of users. If the users grow up, the products do, too. Also plugins.