[Ace17]

> the closed source nature of many services / software [...] in some case is necessary for that platform’s very existence.

Could you please give an example of this?

Beware of arguments like "had it been free software, it couldn't have been monetized it as it was": this reasonning presupposed a fixed set of business models, and doesn't account for the emergence of new ones (e.g online games with subscription, "free-to-play" games, etc.).