[aleph_minus_one]

> If I were to pick an inflection point, a point at which the internet started going to shit, i'd say it was around 07/08 with the birth of the iPhone and Appstore. That's when "pay to publish" really started to take off.

That's very plausible.

I additionally want to add that before the iPhone, having a locked-down device where the vendor decides which app(lication)s you are allowed to install caused huge outcries and shitstorms.

Example: Microsoft's initiatives for "Next-Generation Secure Computing Base" (formerly Palladium) [1] and attempting to enforce a TPM on computers (keyword: trusted computing).

When the iPhone came out, this all suddenly became perfectly accepted.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next-Generation_Secure_Computi...

[user3939382]

I don’t know if Palm was technically a walled garden, I’m guessing you could load from wherever, but practically it was and I don’t think anyone had a problem with it. Not sure if it’s a counterpoint but something to consider.

[aleph_minus_one]

> I don’t know if Palm was technically a walled garden, I’m guessing you could load from wherever, but practically it was

According to this Reddit thread [1], you could easily install applications to a Palm from a memory stick. Additionally, I am not aware that Palm applications needed to be signed by the device producer (i.e. the device producer could not decide which applications are allowed vs forbidden on the device).

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/Palm/comments/tmvm9z/is_there_a_way...

[kalleboo]

The Palm was wide open, there was zero DRM, I had a Palm IIIx in high school and spent hours browsing the web for fun freeware/shareware to HotSync onto it over serial. I also spent my time waiting at the bus stop writing my own bus time tables app directly on the Palm using yBasic

Palm even provided the source code of the built-in apps like the calendar etc as sample code with their SDK, leading to a huge ecosystem of freeware or shareware "Calendar Plus"-type applications that just added small quality of life features

[bigfatkitten]

Palm was an open platform. You could install apps from wherever you like, or write your own.

I learned 68k assembler in my teens for the purpose of cracking Palm apps for my Palm IIIe. I obviously had no credit card, and I had very little money.