[j45]

Real player was one of the first real video players, it wasn't a pain, it was a genuine addon.

Flash, also almost came built into every browser.

By the time both had gone away, HTML video built in was here. Of course, there were players like jwPlayer what played video fine.

Today, most browsers have most codecs.

[recursive]

Real Player was an early innovator. Mostly in dark patterns.

[j45]

Wouldn't be surprising, likely happened more when competition showed up.