Jaws is so big and bloated because of the OCR feature, mainly. Also, Research it most likely isn't helping matters. If these were optional features, I wouldn't mind, but I think it's absolutely ridiculous to make people download things they might not even use. When I was a JAWS user, I never used Research It. I feel that it probably is useful for those who are just getting started with using a computer. But, then again, it would be much more empowering for them to learn how to use Google, or another favorite search engine of choice, rather than letting a screen reader hold their hand. I also object to the OCR package being included, because I think I used that thing a grand total of twice ever since it came out, and that was for testing purposes. I found that most PDF's I've interacted with could be told to play nicely if you converted them to text, usually with QRead, but there are other workable solutions. And, honestly, this was the only real benefit to the built-in OCR that I had foreseen, the ability to interact with PDF documents. Then again, I don't really use them that often; a restaurant menu here or there, or maybe a bank statement if I really need to comb through those for something, although these things have pretty much all been solved by my acquisition of an IPhone anyway.
And don't even get me started about why the JAWS training materials should be an optional feature. Oh, wait, I don't have to make a case for that, it should be pretty obvious why. I am also quite displeased that FS found it necessary to push their podcasts on you. Why that needs to be included in a screen reader is beyond me. If NV Access tried that, first there would be a rightly deserved uproar, then people would be told, in no uncertain terms, that they were able to type the address for NV Access into their web browsers just fine before. Nothing has changed, nor has their ability to add the site to their favorites suddenly disappeared. So where FS gets off doing the same thing and getting away with it, I have no clue.
The point is, what sense does it make, especially for people who have limited data connections, to download an installer that could very easily be cut in half just by removing what I would call bloatware? As I said, I don't deny their usefulness to some. And the Vocalizer voices are also an optional feature that must be downloaded. Why can't OCR, Research It, and the training book be the same? Oh, and FS Reader as well. I personally don't find that one as offensive, since I don't use a lot of Daisy books, and since accessible Daisy players are hard to find, I actually can see a strong use case for it. However, I'm told that FS Reader tends to crash a lot and is very slow, so I don't know.
The glass is neither half empty nor half full. It's just holding half the amount it can potentially hold.