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Netflix Wants To Go HTML5, But Not Without DRM
FuzzNugget writes "In a recent blog post, Netflix details their plans to transition from Silverlight to HTML5, but with one caveat: HTML5 needs to include a built-in DRM scheme. With the W3C's proposed Encrypted Media Extensions, this may come to fruition. But what would we sacrificing in openness and the web as we know it? How will developers of open source browsers like Firefox respond to this?"
The great thing about Silverlight is its ability to stream content as your internet line can take it. This means Silverlight will dynamically adjust the video and audio bitrate so that even users on less-than-fast lines can stream Silverlight video content.
That is a clear advantage over Flash and/or HTML5 based video content. Another is the easy integration with other projects when using visual studio. It enables you to rapidly develop new software and code.
This being said, the DRM probably isn't as needed by the Netflix itself but the content providers. It most likely says somewhere in their contracts that Netflix has to use DRM when streaming their content. It's the movie studios that demand it, not Netflix.
Just a side note: to use current Netflix on Linux, guys uses wine + firefox + moonlight. And it works pretty fine.
La, la, la, la, la. I can't hear you. As far as I know, there is no way to watch Netflix on Linux. That's what I told my Father-in-law when they were visiting. Told him he was free to google a solution, but unfortunately they had to cut the trip short to get away before bad weather set in. Me, personally, I like it STP and mostly sunny, but to each his own, right?
Anyway, you were saying something about Netflix problems with Linux, right?
I am not a crackpot.