system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why aren't consumer computers "instant" yet, in terms of the basic functions like booting up, opening up programs, etc? I mean literally instant, with zero delay following a mouse click. Will they ever be?
gpt
There are instant computers, you just don't think of them as "real" computers. Tons of devices with embedded microcontrollers (household appliances, elevators, traffic lights, you name it) have real computers in there that load their resources almost instantaneously and can get going.

As for "real" computers, we'll probably never see instant ones because as soon as the startup process gets faster.... people dream up more functions and resources for the computer to load. As computers get faster, we just keep on giving them more to do. Microsoft Office 95 would probably load in a blink of an eye on a modern machine, but Office 2013 takes a while. But 2013 offers a ton of features and changes it's predecessor didn't that MS decided was a worthwhile tradeoff. The case is the same for most software.