Netflix Extends "Watch Instantly" To Mac Users
CNet is reporting that Netflix has opened up its "Watch Instantly" feature to Mac users (here is Netflix's blog entry). They accomplished this by using Microsoft's Silverlight technology on both platforms, abandoning the Windows Media Player solution that had been employed in the first, Windows-only, version. Silverlight's DRM capabilities meet Netflix's needs, apparently. Netflix warns that this is beta software. Mac users can opt in here, then watch instantly with Safari or Firefox 2+, with the Silverlight plugin in place. Movie selection is somewhat limited.
Dear Troll,
I'll bite.
Why should you have to buy a computer to watch netflix on demand when you are already paying for it?
False argument: I disagree with your premise.
You pay for the data to be delivered to you over the internet. If you had the internet but no computer (for what ever reason) you could buy the dedicated netflix box. I already have the ability to transduce all open standard video-binary-data into a visual display. So your point, if you had one, would be moot.
Why should you pay for an internet connection when you are already paying netflix
Because all links in the chain must be satisfied. It is the needless disallowing of alternative instantiations that vexes me. If I don't have the internet, I could get it by mail. Which is how netflix started in the first place. If I didn't have a mailbox, I could get a P.O. Box.
Why should you pay for a big screen to watch it on when you are already paying netflix for the DVDs?
False implication, already discussed. I pay for the delivery in a usable form, what I do with that is up to me. Whether it be a monitor hooked up to a computer, or a TV hooked up to a dvdplayer shouldn't bother them in the least. And it doesn't.
Why should you pay for a stove, to cook the hamburger you just bought?
False argument: non-sequiter, parallel implantations exist and are not prevented.
There are many ways I could cook a hamburger that exist and are not prevented due to incompetent vendor choices. I could use my grill, oven, stovetop, microwave, or hairdryer.
Why should you pay for a furnace to heat your house after you already paid for utility?
Argument is incomplete as you didn't specify what utility I paid for. If I paid for the general utility known as electricity, then I could heat my house by using any number of eletrical->thermal energy converters. If I paid for hotwater, I could run it though the furnace which came with the house, or take a hot shower.
Next :-P
I don't know why you are lashing out at me and telling me to age faster. You said that buying a windows license wasn't an issue. As a netflix member, I corrected you.
As a netflix and non-windows user, I do not like being needlessly required to have a windows license to view something as common as a movie. It falls under that implication of the idea that MPAA believes us all to be criminals. I rent movies to avoid that branding. I like to watch movies, but I don't think movies I view once to be worth the 20$ it would take to buy them; so I rent them.