So, who is considering what alternatives? We are using GitLab only for git ui, as I put a stop to using it any deeper due to a questionable open-core model.
Agree, it seems that the business model change of going from DVD by mail to streaming are much more profound, than what is usually discussed. With everyone going into streaming, it looks like at least in short-term perspective we are moving to a cable network of streaming channels, with 4-5 networks being owned by a single household that wants to see all that's good out there.
4. Another dimension is how many stars the movie got, or in Netflix's case - number of thumbs up and thumbs down. Not sure how many people vote that way, but ideally it will be something like an IMDB score. I am quite prepared to give a try to what most people consider really good, but IMBD score is 0-10, while thumbs up is much more ambiguous and it probably works against movie buffs, who will thumb up only the best, but will be drowned in tastes of the average person. A movie that was voted higher than 8 on IMDB by a lot of people is highly likely a good movie that should be watched, regardless of genre, language, etc. The only problem IMDB has right now is a mass of Indian and Turkish voters (not sure if it's bots or just a flashmob crowd) that got quite a lot of their movies in the IMDB top. However, Netflix does not have this dimension at all. Movies that were highly rated by critics or curated lists also don't show up and so the judgement goes towards a common denominator, instead of receiving a bump from critics.
5. Finally, an issue that becomes apparent after some time, is just a really tiny library of movie content. If the info on the Internet is correct, there are no more than 5-10k movies in the Netflix library, this is nothing compared to how many movies are out there. Whole genres are not represented, where are the hardboiled Hong Kong action, foreign Sci-Fi, classic oldies, etc. It is not a direct problem of Netflix recommendation engine, but a limitation still. Again, if I compare Spotify and Netflix coverage, Spotify fares much better, with no more than 10% of artists that I listed to no listed. Of course, Netflix tries to switch everyone to watching just more of their own content which they can distribute without issues or additional cost worldwide. But if the market becomes fragmented, the movie discovery function diminishes in value.
Having worked in enterprise field for quite some time, I feel that all consumer-startup driven innovation in terms of ease of use, UX, drastic decrease in cost, etc. only recently has been trickling down to enterprise, which has a much higher inertia and barriers to entry.
The CIOs are now much more open to new products than before even in very traditional and conservative industries, while the leading existing technology providers are not in a much better position to offer a new product, as they would be starting from scratch because of huge technological advances and a shift in development practices, all thanks to consumer startups.
Given a backing from an A-list player provides the needed boost in initial traction for enterprise startups, basically a "rolodex" of previous acquisitions and a network of CIOs, if an idea has a market, the failure rate can be kept at a minimum.
The only thing I don't understand is how an exit strategy looks like, as it seems only logical that there should be a monster or two on the enterprise market (Microsoft and Oracle of the 21 century), who should either acquire those products that succeeded or develop their own alternatives. So I'm pretty sure that in 5 years time the great consolidation is coming and it will become more difficult to develop a business out of a product idea.