When I was still in school Microsoft would show up like once a semester and throw a "Build an app party". They'd give you like 90% of the code and files need to make a really simple slot machine app (no real money, if you ran out you tapped the get more coins button or something). It took like 15 minutes to finish the app, and if you published your version in the MS app store they'd give you like $600 in free MS hardware right then and there.

It was great, I did it every semester.

Here I am wishing they had showed up at my school. Out of curiosity, what hardware did they give you?

Well...dang....that's pretty good....

> Now that everyone and their dog appears to be offering their own streaming service, we are right back to the "app store" days of competing on the basis of "total number of apps". Quantity over quality.

As a not young anymore childless expat adult with an interest in non-popular topics, I don't think that's a bad thing necessarily. While I'm surprised at the really bad quality (production but also just plain lies/propaganda) of some of the Prime content, I am happy that there's at least one streaming service were such content can be found because if that crappy content makes it to Prime it is a lot more likely that the non-popular stuff I really want is also there (at least, as compared to more heavily curated streaming services).

Of course, if your demographics more align with what is "popular" (and there's nothing wrong with that!) that may not matter and the negatives of having less filtering may be more of an issue. I will add that besides the weird/unpopular and low quality content, Prime tends to have a surprisingly good collection of (older) content, from Star Trek series to HBO shows (Sopranos, Tru Blood, Six Feet Under, etc), overall it's a pretty good service for the money and with the included 2 "days" (because lately it's more like 3 although sometimes it's next day) delivery it's unbeatable.

I'm almost done with streaming, its too much in general, and too much of it is trash masquarading as quality and faux FOMO. I'm taking verbal suggestions from friends only.

Time for a new pass time, watching TV isn't fun with this choice paralysis.

Perhaps Amazon is offering quantity over quality with prime video (and everything else) but there are numerous dedicated streaming services like HBO, Funimation, or Disney+ which have both large and high quality libraries.

Large and high quality is a strong word for Disney+. If you're not a parent or a fan of the Mandalorian it's pretty subpar compared to the variety of Netflix or Hulu.

the more (probably exclusive) videos there are, the more amazon prime subscriptions they sell... (of course that assumes amazon prime generates revenue)

Prime is sold for a non-zero price, so it generates revenue.