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How Netflix Eats the Internet
pacopico writes "Every night, Netflix accounts for about one-third of the downstream Internet traffic in North America, dwarfing all of its major rivals combined. Bloomberg Businessweek has a story detailing the computer science behind the streaming site. It digs into Netflix's heavy use of AWS and its open-source tools like Chaos Kong and Asgard, which the Obama administration apparently used during the campaign. Story seems to suggest that the TV networks will have an awful time mimicking what Netflix has done."
ISPs only have so much capacity to sell though.
Yes, and like any product when demand exceeds supply you would then invest in your company to increase your ability to fulfill it. It's called "business is going well -- we're expanding".
imagine Microsoft started going around to every business running Windows/Exchange, saying, "Hey, we deserve some of your profits. You're using our products to make money, and it's totally unfair that we don't get a cut." That'd be ridiculous,right? Microsoft offered a product, and you bought it according to their terms. If you think they deserve a percentage simply because you use their product to make money, then where does it end? Why can't 3M come after you for a percentage because you use post-its.
Well they did do something analogous to this when they were doing site licensing. I don't know if they still get away with the practice but at one time they charged a per desktop license fee. Not a per installed copy mind you...they quite literally charged per machine on the premises and it did not matter if it was running a MS product or not.
That's not the same as it only references in-business usage. This would be like Microsoft asking for a percentage of quarterly revenue from your company simply because everyone is using Outlook/Exchange justifying it as the email service helped facilitate business.
Or how about the Ford company asking a taxi fleet for a cut of the per-mile rate because the vehicles are all Ford made, ignoring that the vehicles were all purchased paid in full by the company already.