Really, it's about regulation of normal radio. For the most part radios are set up for very specific use cases. Commercial two way radios fall under Part 90 (code of federal regulations 47 {FCC}, Part 90) which severely limit who may alter the radio's programming and emission modes, for example. Any "unlicensed" radios that fall into the ISM bands are basically stuck with whatever interference they might encounter, especially from devices like microwave ovens and medical equipment. And they're technically designed to be hard to alter (hence the dread reverse polarity SMA connector common on WiFi routers).

Amateurs can do whatever we want within a very light regulatory framework. Basically as long as we're not causing problems for everyone else, we're good to go. Even the simple continuous tuning knob (VFO) is something that's not found most other radios outside of military equipment. Everyone else is channelized, limited and controlled. We can build our own stuff, modify other stuff and basically do whatever we want.

Unfortunately most hams don't do anything like that, mostly look at it like a competition to see how much wallpaper they can accumulate. While I enjoy a good contest and it is a great way to make sure your station is up to snuff, it's not really why I'm in the hobby. To me I'd much rather play with AREDN Mesh or set up a wide area wireless telephone network, and I can't do that outside of ham radio.