Instant messaging in 200x was based on "naked content" that could be parsed by anyone, so there was a lot of different programs supporting various forms of communications. If you weren't a programmer you simply relied on 3rd-party software and that worked quite nicely.
Re:Non-Consensual Personalization
by SideburnsOfDoom on Friday February 04, 2022 @06:34AM
(#30205501)
Exactly. likewise most people go to a dealer and get a "third party car" that works quite nicely on the shared infrastructure of roads, signs, gas stations etc. Maybe with a few configurable options such as color.
I mean, for a niche certain audience, yes it is great.
But for mass market, people don't necessarily want to take on a whole new hobby in order to experience the thing.
Worse, it's contextual within the same individual: the person who wants to customise the car doesn't want to make their own sourdough pizza from type-00 flour, and customised web browser. And vice versa: each thinks "why waste time on that other thing"?