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Netflix Ditches Silverlight With HTML5 Support In IE11
An anonymous reader writes "Netflix today announced that it has finally taken the first step towards ditching Silverlight for HTML5, largely thanks to Microsoft, no less. The company has been working closely with the Internet Explorer team to implement its proposed 'Premium Video Extensions' in IE11 on Windows 8.1, meaning if you install the operating system preview released today, you can watch Netflix content using HTML5 right now. Back in April, Netflix revealed its plans to use HTML5 video in any browser that implements its proposed 'Premium Video Extensions.' These extensions allow playback of premium video (read: with DRM protection) directly in the browser without the need to install plugins such as Silverlight or Flash."
What a load of drivel. Did you just clip that from 'The Adolescent's Guide To Piracy Justification'?
The 'social good'? What the hell is that? You know what would really be for 'the social good'? Free food, shelter, clothing, etc. Therefore, by your impeccable logic you should immediately remove the locks from your house, because those locks are keeping the homeless people out, which is not really 'loving thy neighbor'. Also, any and all anti-theft measures must immediately be removed wherever they are found, because they prevent people from getting what they want.
You're being 'robbed' by DRM? Of what, exactly? What belonged to you that you no longer have? Nothing. If the price of a DRM'ed thing is too high, don't buy it, just like every other product on the planet. If you are unethical, just steal it.
Skate right past the point that copyright is not the best way to profit from artistic endeavor? OK, genius, what is?
Whether DRM "works" or "is good" is utterly irrelevant. Pandora, Amazon Video, Netflix, Hulu, etc are not going to move to a platform with no DRM; that is a reality of the world we live in.
Your moral assessment of the situation doesnt affect the reality one bit, nor does your attempt to paint me as some huge fan of DRM. For the record, im NOT a huge fan, but again: reality intrudes.
So please dont ask me to defend DRM; I never endorsed it. What im endorsing is the practical, workable idea of baking DRM capabilities directly into the browser since it is a VERY commonly requested feature on the modern web, and as such makes zero sense to exclude it from a industry standard for stupid political reasons.