It's funny how interoperability has to be reintroduced as a new concept now, when back in the day it was part of the philosophy of the internet itself. I heard stories about a CS professor who had to teach incoming students what files and folders were. The interoperability thing is like that. 30 years into the Eternal September, we're learning that nothing we were enculturated in computing-wise can be taken for granted and we must re-teach it all to our successors.
Interoperability is kryptonite to business. It kills whatever one's moat is, the way a microneedle will kill a cell by puncturing its membrane. Most companies avoid it at all costs, except for using it as a weapon to hurt competition. Of note is how upstarts embrace interoperability while it gives them an edge over incumbents - and then abandon it as soon as they establish themselves as a major player (see e.g. Slack, which built their userbase on this trick).
Early Internet was interoperable because of low commercial interest. Now it's centralized because it's a big market. Interoperability got replaced by contracts.
