2010ish sounds right to me, APIs used to be widely available and accessible, which still left a way for people to have control over how they used the internet.

2010ish sounds right to me, APIs used to be widely available and accessible, which still left a way for people to have control over how they used the internet. But maybe the API was ultimately a trap. A la "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish". Offer an API to encourage adoption, and then start restricting it later. Which got us to leave our federated platforms with open protocols and enter closed silos.