I think about this all the time, especially when I get that one tagline about logging on to Hexbear in 2024 communist America. I'm sure there's a billion reasons for why it didn't work out, but I always wonder how different the internet would be if the Soviet Union had survived and computerized early, like with the OGAS project. I'm sure enshittification wouldn't be as rampant. Just like how the USSR provided a progressive political example that the capitalist world had to somewhat keep up with, they would've provided an example of an internet not completely squeezed to death by rent-seeking companies.