[BadassFractal]

Using examples from late 80s boxed software is absurd, and you also don't know anything about whether developers at the time complained about the restrictions or not.

Development practices for the web era are nothing like those of 30 years ago, unless you like to do it wrong.

[anko]

What are you talking about late 80s? it's still happening with consoles today. On XBox, for example, you need a dev kit. They have a lengthy sign up process, they don't allow students or universities to get one, etc. It costs $$$.

Yeah development practices have changed, but you also have a choice of platforms.

Any platform has tradeoffs and those tradeoffs have an impact on your development process. That's what a platform is. It's an environment, and that environment imposes restrictions. So there is a tradeoff between restrictions to benefits.