It depends what you mean about progress. Digital communications evolved and it's nice to have data capability that can span the globe with a 100W radio (PSK shortwave). The bandwidth is not there, unless you go up in frequency, but then the range is limited without repeaters. I ran a VHF AX.25 node for a long time, using a 486 linux machine and soundcard as modem. With a good antenna and location I had people connecting from 50km or more and with my internet connectivity some even used tcp/ip. I could also connect to other nodes, using my peers as repeaters. My point is although the communication is slow, it's very easy to get something going with cheap radios (mine was a used modified radio from commercial frequencies), homebuilt antennas , computers that nobody wants anymore and of course open source.

Getting quite OT here.

I was looking at building a AX.25 node 10 years ago, with a 15km range on a basic amateur license, with maybe 28kbps. Almost all integrated into a radio with a digital output that cost the same as a PC.

That's what I mean about lack of progress... not much advanced today - it's a bit cheaper and easier, with better range, but no better bandwidth. If the frequencies & range are a fundamental issue, OK. When I was reading 10 years ago there was a strong dis-interest in data from my local groups, who thought it was ruining their voice comms. Still today I find the local amateur radio groups have little interest in packet radio beyond maybe running a webcam over AX.25. The interested HAMs are running community WiFi projects.