&gt; <i>It was the only way good open source software could &quot;breach&quot; how microsoft was doing business and putting barriers to the internet.</i><p>Maybe I&#x27;m missing out on a big chapter of the history of computing, but I don&#x27;t recall Open Source done via webapps until very recently. Most of the things browsers did were things that mattered only to <i>businesses</i> - like easier software updates, and <i>much</i> more control over the customers and their data. And the latter reasons are why web technologies are popular today.