Netflix Now Works On Linux With HTML5 DRM Video Support In Chrome 201
An anonymous reader writes "Beginning with the Chrome 38 Beta it's now possible to watch Netflix without any Wine/Silverlight plug-ins but will work natively using Chrome's DRM-HTML5 video capabilities with Netflix. The steps just involve using the latest beta of Chrome and an HTTP user-agent switcher to tell Netflix you're a Windows Chrome user, due to Netflix arbitrarily blocking the Linux build."
Re:Why is (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Why is (Score:5, Insightful)
Because no matter how strongly they state that a configuration is not supported, if it's not expressly blocked, people will try to get technical support for it. And with the distro landscape as it is, supporting mainstream software on "Linux" is a nightmare.
Re:Why is (Score:5, Insightful)
I used to be a long term NF user (the mail dvd's, that is) but the service started getting slow (mailings were not as fast as before) and many titles were dropped (not NF's fault, but I still had less choice).
TPB does what I need and there's never a problem with compatibility ;)
sorry, entertainment industry, but I gave up on you. for decades (quite a few of them) I helped fund your overpriced shite. that has now ended.
my cost is that of a VPN and that's it. and so, I'm 'there' until things drastically change, and I don't see that happening even in my lifetime.
so, even though linux is now 'working', I could actually care less. too little, too late.
Re:Why is (Score:4, Insightful)
Ex-Microsoft people, always causing trouble to their new companies to benefit their old company. See also: Stephen Elop.
Re:Why is (Score:5, Insightful)
So exactly how much less could you actually care then?
Re:Wake Me Up (Score:5, Insightful)
(Slight sarcasm alert)
Re:So... (Score:2, Insightful)
How do I remove the DRM, save it as mkv and upload it to TPB?
Why bother? It's already there.
Re:Why is (Score:5, Insightful)
If it is browser based, is it really THAT hard to "support"?
Yes. I have actually done phone support, and you would not believe how dumb some people are. Many will call for support before they even turn their computer on. They want someone to babysit them through the entire process before they even try to do it themselves. The only way to deal with these people cost effectively, is to hire a bunch of Indians or Filipinos, and have them walk the users through a canned script. Once you start throwing in additional variables, and Linux has a lot of variables, then the complexity of the script increases exponentially. Pretty soon, you end up having to hire expensive tech support people that are actually capable of thinking and troubleshooting. Why should Netflix do that for an extra 1% in sales?
Re:Why is (Score:4, Insightful)
"due to Netflix arbitrarily blocking the Linux build"
i.e., generating a valid page based on detection of a Linux-based USER-AGENT from the browser, to save the user from trying to troubleshoot what has been, until recently, a problem that the user could not fix. Hardly sinister.
Re: Why is (Score:4, Insightful)
In these cases, the issue is a want (consume content) and not a need (consume food/water/air). So, you are ripping someone else off because you want what they have but do not need it.
And in those circumstances, you are the one being unethical. Only when you have a need that someone acts unfairly to address it, does ethics start to play a role.
Otherwise, you're just being inaccurate and melodramatic.
Re:Why is (Score:5, Insightful)
I also think "I could care less" is dumb. I just wanted to point out how zero is not always the lower limit, because obviously this is an important topic to many a Slashdotter.
Frankly, if you mean "I don't care", then by all means say so, there's no need to put it in any fancier terms. Especially when you get it wrong, which is what frequently occurs whilst endeavouring to overliteralize, perchance even hypercorrect matters.
Of course, if you actually say "I don't care about $x", there's still a non-zero level of caring. If you genuinely don't care, you won't even think about it, you just walk away.