What that says is that most of the content distribution networks which existed outside centralised systems required a good amount of mental workload for the ope

What that says is that most of the content distribution networks which existed outside centralised systems required a good amount of mental workload for the operator. Back then we did not have the same culture of automated DevOps and so they perished. I don't think centralisation per se is a defining feature of the platforms you're speaking about.