If they were more about UNIX than freedom, that could make sense back then. These days, you miss out on loads on of open stuff and are very much a third class citizen. After Linux and Windows, as the platform has neither freedom or a large user base. Macports seams to regularly have talks about how they are shunned and ignored.
They should be standard protocols and you should be able to change server to competition. Be great if it was all open, but failing that, standards, competition and right to repair.