In the early days of Cable, one of the big selling points of "pay TV", as it was called in those days, was that there would be "no commercials".

Its only a matter of time before the act of logging on and using the computer will be constantly interrupted by commercials.

You see, like in radio, TV, and later, the Web, the progression is inevitable. You go from a popular technical innovation the public is eager for and which pioneers and entrepreneurs have built with great risk and creativity, to just a machine for generating revenue.

People who pioneered the medium needed a legitimate way to finance their exploration. Today, the free range is all carved up and fenced in, and they have settled down to systematic mining and farming. Its a pattern with a long history. The best magazines and newspapers needed advertising. But soon, the process leads inevitably to a means of delivering advertising. Pick up a fashion magazine sometime and leaf though it. There's just enough articles to attract people to the advertising. I've also noticed the same effect with sailing rags, when the moms-and-pops sell out to the big publishers.
Big publishers aren't in the sailing business, or even the sailing journalism business. They are in the advertising business. They have probably never been on a boat in their life. They go from collections of useful information interspersed with ads of value to those involved in the activity, to catalogs for vendors of expensive gear.

I've decided not to renew my subscription to Sky and Telescope.