The commercialization of the internet isn't without it's many flaws but to say that it snatched it from the jaws of progress is absurd. It was exactly the comme

The commercialization of the internet isn't without it's many flaws but to say that it snatched it from the jaws of progress is absurd. It was exactly the commercialization of the internet that made it the colossal tool it is today for hundreds of millions of people worldwide for starting small businesses, finding ways of making a side income, creatively expressing and promoting themselves and finding sources of work online (even if they're not all well-paid U.S/Europe based programmers and devops like some of the snidely privileged, disdainful commentators here). That so many people on a site like HN of all fucking things could be so narrowly dismissive of the overall value of a the vast commercial internet of today (despite its flaws), which many of you helped build into what it is at considerable gain to yourselves, is funny at best and grotesquely arrogant at worst. Talk about naval gazing and missing the forest for some broken trees.