Couldn't agree more.

Let's not forget we now have "native apps" which are actually web browsers packed with a full node.js instance and a local database, eating up several hundred megs of space for seemingly trivial tasks.

Most webpages are bigger than 1.44MB these days... I'm talking individual pages here. Though I'm not entirely sure that this is a good thing.

yeah, I want vintage core memory sized 4kB webpages

OpenBSD's installer fits on a 1.44MB floppy, and that includes network connectivity.

Do those 1.44MB include userspace similar to what alpine has and all of the linux drivers that alpine covers? Or are they downloaded via the internet?

miniroot.fs is >4mb for 6.4 last time I checked...

there are multiple install options, floppy64.fs is 1.4MB

Did you ever use the QNX demo-disk? A bootable Unix-like with GUI on a single 1.44MB floppy. I agree it's unrealistic these days, but it was an impressive statement-piece.

Always wanted to try these. I think it's possible to fetch an image online.

The mouse isn't working properly, but you can emulate it in your browser (or grab the image) here: https://archive.org/details/qnxdemo_modem_v4