There's nothing wrong with digital modes. It really is the next evolution for ham. But there is something wrong with proprietary, blackbox encoders that only allow people with specific radios or licensed software to use it.

The world got onboard with 802.11g (and even 802.11b but that sucked). That was a massive movement towards the proliferation of wireless devices. While the standard costs $178 from IEEE, you can find copies of it scattered all over the internet. I don't know why hams have adopted these closed standards, I'm guessing it's because at one point the hobby was dominated by elmers too old to figure out anything but the newest expensive shiny thing from Icom or Yaesu (too much money, not enough sense...) Nowadays you can pull up GNU Radio and start using any sort of open standard mode you want because of how accessible everything is.