RE: https://sauropods.win/@llewelly/116846511853783829
I still think about a 1994 meeting with an exec from the Chattanooga... Forget if it was the Times or the News-Free press, though at that point it was clear that they were folding into each other. We told him exactly what was going to happen, he told us to come back when we'd figured out the business model for him...
I think the whole problem here is the phrase, 'business model'. IMHO the only viable business model on the Internet should be 'hosting'. Every other way of monetizing a hyperspace requires you to reduce functionality and put up walls. And you have to do it for EVERYONE or it doesn't work.
I mean, one team has worked on a method for monetizing a hyperspace with micropayments since, *literally* 1960. And to date it's had near zero adoption.
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Xanadu
It's just not practical to make money with the Internet, so long as it's an open space with open protocols. So nowadays they are trying to close the protocols by law. Even if they pull it off, it's like legislating the value of π.
(And, yes, they tried that too. Circles stayed round.)
Mind you, they have seen some success. I mean, the streaming industry wouldn't exist if they hadn't made breaking DRM a much bigger crime than outright stealing a hardcopy.