programmers will start being more frugal with their memory usage.

They 100% will.

Windows had started only "certifying" machines with 32gb as "windows ready" because they wanted the headroom to cram on AI features and use what we pay for instead of a data center.

But because no one was buying 32gb machines and a machine without that sticker will end up with Linux....

They just dropped it, and now they'll have to keep optimizing for 16gb instead of just letting everything bloat. If they don't, they risk every entry level machine making people eventually switch to Linux for a much better experience. Windows has to run on entry level or people don't get sucked in, no one converts to windows later in life.

That's a huge deal, if 32gb was the default for windows it would be the default for everything. Every game and design/modeling program would feel safe to assume 32gb was the norm. Like, imagine what chrome would do assuming there's 32gb to play with.

Now they can't, and they'll know requiring 32gb will cut off some possible consumers.

It's not like Windows is the good guys tho, it never should have been 32, and arguably should be 8gb forever, even if it required a lightweight mode. Most people would prefer a super stripped down Windows even with 64gb. Most of the bloat is useless, I could live without any updates after we didn't have to quit to DOS to launch a game.