The rise of the “programmable web,” internet companies offering “free” APIs on which businesses were built, and then destroyed when the company offering the API changed the terms or started charging for it. Twitter was a famous example, Facebook was a major culprit, Google offered a lot of free APIs that wreaked havoc like this, and many, many many smaller forgotten examples.

“Web 2.0” was supposed to be a web of interoperable applications with features exposed by APIs, where you could assemble little pieces of functionality into new and novel configurations. It was cool for a little while, but it was never sustainable. There was an enclosure of the commons (they were never really the commons), and now we’re all digital serfs.

It was a beautiful dream, while it lasted!