It was thought computers and computer networks would empower human kind
Instead they have just empowered some companies to make a great deal of money while raising barriers to entry so high it's effectively impossible to compete with them.
And make no mistake raising those barriers (of whatever kind) is absolutely part of their business model.
And has been so since at least the time Micrsoft and the "If you sell a PC that can run DOS, we get a cut, even if it doesn't have a copy loaded" contract clause AKA "The Microsoft tax."