> Whatever you would use a browser extension to do now, there was probably a standalone application to do the same thing before. I don't buy that argument. Whi

> Whatever you would use a browser extension to do now, there was probably a standalone application to do the same thing before. I don't buy that argument. While I can't speak for all users, most of the extensions I use are ones which modify the behavior of the web browser or of specific web pages. They wouldn't have any meaning outside the context of a web browser. Maybe paid extensions represented part of a different ecosystem? If so, though, it's one I never really encountered a need for.