One very illustrative example of how the whole blogging thing changed would be, at least in my opinion, SixApart/MT. Started out so grassrootish and independent (or maybe just apparently independent?), then they started to monetize their software and extended their product portfolio, bought, sold, tested the market, bought, sold… and look what it all has come down to now.

The feel of the early 2000s is definitely gone.
(sez the blogger behind handmade2.0)