Comment by crq-yml

The Web is an ads platform with useful functionality as bait.

That's all there really is to it: Mosaic added image support. Investors got excited and asked if the images could animate, if they could record click data and credit card data, if they could add video and additional presentational elements. Holistic user experiences were secondary.

To move forward we have to accept that most of this wasn't an accident and it needs some breaking changes.