alt Hacker NewsBrowser engines are extremely difficult to start today because of the extensive, complicated, and ever growing list of specifications.
We had a web before open standards. It wasn't the best user experience and each browser was somewhat of a walled garden, but there was heavy competition in the space.
It was a literal hellscape before open standards.
I imagine there's most likely a subset of the population who believe that open standards are aligned conceptually to regulation, and that any form of regulation in a free market is wrong.
This subset of the population is misguided at best, and delusional at worst.
Open standards are essential.