alt Hacker NewsStandardization and regulation forced a lot of the physical industries to change as the industrial revolution progressed. Before that point standards didn't really exist, especially over any large areas and technological progress suffered because of that. After that point solutions became much closer to drag and drop than what they were before.
The question is, at what point of progress will it benefit the software industry.
I was watching a film from 1959 where the main character just swaps headlights and tires from completely different cars like they were just nominally interchangeable.
It feels like the era of standardization already came and went. It seems like product designers are now being deliberately obtuse so that their product quirks create lock-in and therefore more revenue. I expect that genAI will put fuel on this fire.