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Microsoft Edge, HTML5, and DRM

Posted by Soulskill on from the tough-discussions dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Microsoft is building its new browser, Edge, with the intention of avoiding many of the flaws that plagued Internet Explorer over its long and tumultuous life. Part of this involves moving away from plug-ins, and Edge will not support ActiveX. Instead, they're focusing on interoperable media, and that means non-plug-in video players that meet HTML5 specs. Of course, not all video players want to disseminate their content for free, which means: DRM. Microsoft's Edge team has published a new post explaining how they'll be handling support for DRM and "premium media" in the new browser.

They say, "Windows 10 and Microsoft Edge support DASH, MSE, EME and CENC natively, and other major browsers ship implementations of MSE and CENC compliant EME. This support allows developers to build plug-in free web video apps that runs across a huge range of platforms and devices, with each MSE/EME implementation built on top of a different media pipeline and DRM provider. In the days when DRM systems used proprietary file formats and encryption methods, this variation in DRM providers by browser would have presented a significant issue. With the development and use of Common Encryption (CENC), the problem is substantially reduced because the files are compressed in standard formats and encrypted using global industry standards. The service provider issues the keys and licenses necessary to consume the content in a given browser, but the website code, content and encryption keys are common across all of them, regardless of which DRM is in use."

9 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. obligatory Good Luck With That by turkeydance · · Score: 3, Insightful

    DRM and all that.

    1. Re:obligatory Good Luck With That by ganjadude · · Score: 5, Insightful

      they spend all this time on writing DRM code... which will be blown out within a week anyway why not better spend that money and time working on actually making the browser better????

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    2. Re:obligatory Good Luck With That by Bert64 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      People will crack streamed DRM if there is content that's either only available there, or is available there first... If you look at most torrent sites these days you will see all kinds of content that has been ripped from streaming media sites, all of which used DRM and yet still got cracked and made available in a more convenient form via torrents.

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  2. No way in hell by stevez67 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What they're glossing over with their review is that adblocker extensions, password managers, extensions that prevent video from autoplaying and etc. will not be available. And I won't use Edge because if I can't control the behavior of my web browser I won't use that web browser.

    1. Re:No way in hell by Lennie · · Score: 5, Insightful

      How do you mean no extensions ?

      Now I don't know what Edge will support or does support, but the first article I found looking on Google for Microsoft Edge extensions tells me they support:
      http://imacros.net/microsoft-e...

      "Edge will have extensions, “Javascript and HTML based” – essentially very much like Chrome. No C# support."

      This means, similar model to Firefox and Chrome. Actually, many extensions work in both.

      Maybe you are confusing plugins with extensions.

      Plugins are like Flash, Java applets, Acrobat Reader all that stuff.

      You know the stuff that is usually the least secure in most currently deployed browsers.

      --
      New things are always on the horizon
    2. Re:No way in hell by bmo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      He didn't say "no extensions". He said,

      adblocker extensions, password managers, extensions that prevent video from autoplaying and etc. will not be available

      That may as well be "no extensions" for most people, because those are the most useful ones that get installed first with a new browser.

      So fuck him, and fuck his browser. And fuck his company. No, really, if he wants to be that user-hostile, he can take his stuff and shove it straight up his own arse.

      --
      BMO

  3. Umm... their DRM code works quite well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The XBox One has been out, nothing approaching a break, and the XBox 360 will get killed off XBL the second someone sticks a modded ROM on there.

    As for Windows, seen an activation crack for W2012 R2 or W2012, or even W8? Even fake KMS servers don't last long (a few hours at most).

    MS in the DRM department is doing quite well.

  4. Re:Why isn't Mozilla panicking? by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    As distasteful as I find DRM, at least we see Microsoft trying to improve their web browser. With Edge they're actually succeeding in creating something that average users do want to use!

    Not exactly. Microsoft's Edge browser is still in fourth place in terms of being standards compliant, which is what I think average users want because it makes the browser actually compatible with modern content. Yes, it's a tad ahead of IE, but it's still quite behind Chrome, Firefox, and Opera.

    http://html5test.com/results/d...

    In fact most web browsers for mobile devices are doing better than Edge: It's behind Android WebView, BlackBerry's web browser, Chrome for Android, Firefox for Android, Safari for iOS, Opera Mobile, Tizen's web browser, Amazon Silk, Jolla Sailfish, and the now discontinued Nokia X browser.

    http://html5test.com/results/m...

  5. Re:"Edge" by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1, Insightful

    They wanted a name starting with "E", to keep a stylized blue "e" as an icon. Given that Windows 10 windows are essentially frameless, the browser viewing area is edge-to-edge, hence "Edge".

    Then I think "Microsoft E" would have been a better name, invoking the drug that you'd have to be high on to want to use that browser.

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