What's the point of not allowing all outgoing traffic by default?

I have a small home network comprised of Windows and Linux PCs. I am
not serving anything to the internet. That is, all incoming traffic is
blocked blocked.

On the other hand, up until now, I allow ougtoing on a case (port/
service) by case basis. That is, up until now I add yet another port
range to the list of allowed ports/services whenever I discover
another application that needs it.

As time goes by, I discover now that I accumulated a long list of
"allow" that amounts to *almost* openning all ports... which brings
the obvious question: why make it so complicated and tedious, when I
can simply allow all outbound traffic and be done with all the hassle?

Nowdays when client PCs use so many services that practically require
opening all outgoing ports, it seems that the classic rule of thumb of
"First disallow everything by default, then only allow those needed"
is simply outdated.

Am I missing something?

Thanks,
Lynn

.

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