You seem to be missing the point of IM GUIs. They are just intended to render the UI in a stateless way. If you try to use them in another way you'll find them awkward, of course.
Performance is not the only consideration, even in most demanding games. IM GUIs simplify UI code a lot, by not having to rely on message systems that make the code harder to follow and less predictable.
As most things in life, it's a matter of trade-offs.
Annoying for everyone? Talk for yourself, I'd love some flexibility when it comes to job hours, and I'd love my kids to start school later in the mornings.
Jobs should accommodate to people's lives, and not the other way around.
Can you provide some proof that "pirating" (I hate that word) had severely diminished sold copies? And I don't mean all those "studies" based on the false premise that downloaded records are lost sales.
Copyright isn't here to protect the creator, but the copyrights holder. The great extension of copyright (way beyond the artist life) is there so a few copies holders keep their IPs for a handful of mega-successful acts: Mickey, The Beatles, Elvis,...
Screwing us all because they are still able to milk the cow is unfair. Money-making cannot be the only factor taken into account. Public domain is something we, as a society, deserve.
I still find that you're using a very specific use case of a search engine to completely dismiss not using a different search engine.