I imagine the first image file would’ve come well after the first text transmission, and would’ve required the development of a binary file transfer protocol. Maybe they’re talking about XMODEM and the BBS era, before those BBSes were eventually networked onto the internet.
I’m hopeful that we’ll eventually be able to separate the app itself from the license to view certain content. Some apps are shit with good content, and some apps are great with insufficient content.
I’d love to be able to have a one-stop shop for browsing or searching for shows and movies that I have access to, whether it’s through my Netflix/Amazon/Disney/Hulu/Peacock/Apple/Paramount subscription or whatever. Amazon seems intent on trying to make it happen, but I’d personally prefer that the actual device (Apple TV, Chromecast or whatever it’s replacement is called, Roku, XBox, Samsung TV) to just have it on the home screen when you turn it on.
Yeah, Google does the same thing, but it launches the specific app in order to play from that screen (and not every app handles that gracefully).
What’s interesting about Amazon is that they play the actual content in the same app, even when licensed through a subscription with another service.