This is nothing new though. 20 years ago it was people complaining about AOL and longing for the good ol' days of usenet. Mainstream users will always gravitate to a narrow range of mainstream products.
While that is true, I agree with the OP. The internet was a much more mysterious and magical place before the big 4 took over. It could possibly even be linked to smart phones. It was more wild west and fun.
I think the feeling is linked to getting older. For me, the wild west days were the early 90s. By the late 90s, when WWW had taken over and anyone with a CD-ROM drive and a modem was let on it lost it's charm. Especially as at that point it felt like the internet had been turned into a giant shopping mall.
For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse
We're a place where coders share, stay up-to-date and grow their careers.
This is nothing new though. 20 years ago it was people complaining about AOL and longing for the good ol' days of usenet. Mainstream users will always gravitate to a narrow range of mainstream products.
While that is true, I agree with the OP. The internet was a much more mysterious and magical place before the big 4 took over. It could possibly even be linked to smart phones. It was more wild west and fun.
I think the feeling is linked to getting older. For me, the wild west days were the early 90s. By the late 90s, when WWW had taken over and anyone with a CD-ROM drive and a modem was let on it lost it's charm. Especially as at that point it felt like the internet had been turned into a giant shopping mall.