My gut reaction is that becoming dependent on an employer to provide access to proprietary tooling is a step backwards for worker empowerment. My take on the p

My gut reaction is that becoming dependent on an employer to provide access to proprietary tooling is a step backwards for worker empowerment. My take on the past 20 years or so is that programmers gained enough market clout to demand a fair amount of agency over things like tooling and working conditions. One of the results is, for instance, that there are no more proprietary programming languages of any importance, that I'm aware of. Even the great Microsoft open-sourced their flagship language, C#. Non-developers like myself looked to the programming world with a bit of admiration or perhaps even envy. I use programming tools in my job, and would not choose a proprietary tool even if offered. The engineering disciplines that depended on proprietary tooling tend to be lower paying, with less job mobility. Maybe the tables have turned, and employers have the upper hand once again, so this may all be a moot point, or a period to look back on with fondness.