I similarly killed my Spotify subscription largely because of their disgusting behavior of exclusifying podcasts. I think this is largely a PR thing: there are

I similarly killed my Spotify subscription largely because of their disgusting behavior of exclusifying podcasts. I think this is largely a PR thing: there are obvious benefits to open standards once you understand the pros and cons. But most people don't want to learn anything about how podcasts are distributed, or how messages are sent, and with corporations pushing people to proprietary solutions, most folks will just... do what the corporations tell them to do (see Google Chrome's adoption as well -- sure, it was a fast, sexy browser at first, and word of mouth helped the rep... but let's be honest, the real reason Chrome became the most used browser in the world is because grandma and mom and uncle bob all got annoyed to death on the Google Search, Google Maps, and GMail web pages that "the best experience is on Chrome"). I've tried to explain to friends and family why I prefer open standards, like RSS, and they smile and nod but I know damn well they don't get it and think it's weird that I care so much. These are the same people who don't seem upset or annoyed that the Spotify subscription they pay for constantly shoves podcasts in their face even if they don't listen to podcasts and have no intention of ever listening to them. So I guess the answer is that most people just do not know enough, do not want to know more, and do not care enough to bother. Open standards are amazing, and the internet is going to fragment and fall apart if we keep drifting from them. Or, at the very least, turn your online experience into a dystopian nightmare where you can't control anything, even things you bought, in your own home, on the internet connection you pay for. We really need a good PR campaign to keep open standards alive and improving. Because they're really better than proprietary solutions that milk you for every last dollar and drop of attention. We just have to show the aforementioned grandma and mom and uncle bob.