I cannot explain how much I do not want to see this green dot and “New!” text in my application launcher. Rather than be a passionate contributor like you, I have regrettably become a slave to the Big Tech industry - But one thing I can provide is insight into why operating systems like iOS and Windows have this noise: Impact driven development People need to justify their work on a continuous basis, with the upside of promotions and downside of layoffs. They add the most useless feature...
OMG, the green dot last days?! I’ve just disabled the option. Not my cup of tea, I do remember app names. And I always use Krunner or search inside the App launcher. In all honesty, sometimes it does take some effort… but there are advantages, I can recommend software to people without resorting to a net searx or chatbot convo.