Classic Mac OS was written at a time when computers had kilobytes of memory and black and white graphics. It was not designed for multi-tasking, because at the time it was written, the world had insufficient hardware to make multi-tasking practical. It was not designed for networking, because the internet mostly did not exist at the time. It was not designed for security, because computers were a less important target for criminals, and no internet meant far fewer exploit vectors.
All of these features were post-facto bolted onto Mac OS, and the result was an unstable mess. It was ultimately a full OS rewrite that fixed the platform.
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I'll make a separate case too, for a rewrite I wish would happen: it's all well and good for Slack to build their client in Electron as a small startup that needs to experiment and iterate quickly. However, Slack is now a reasonably-sized public company, and they (should) have a stable product that will not undergo rapid changes.
Now would be an excellent time for Slack to rewrite their client to be a native app on each of the major platforms. They have the resources to create a snappy, performant app that more customers will enjoy using.