[ale] Netflix, etc. on Linux

Omar Chanouha ofosho at gatech.edu
Thu Oct 1 01:53:29 EDT 2009


I am hoping someone can shed some light on something for me.

If the Roku runs linux, and the Roku plays netflix movies, then why
can't any linux distro play netflix movies? I am assuming that the
content is DRM via some method, and they do not want to release the
code to unDRM it because that would defeat the purpose of the DRM.
However, it seems to me that the binary can be included with a linux
distro(roku linux) without the code being open source. If I am right,
then why don't they release the binary? Also, by MSFT not releasing
the binary (or some way for other OSs) to play these movies, is that
not an anti-competitive business practice?

The thing I really don't get, is why bother? I can torrent any movie I
want in hour, but I would rather pay $20 a month for the convenience
of VOD. Anyway, until it runs on linux, i won't touch it. I have made
bigger sacrifices than movies for my software freedom, and I don't
plan on budging for this nonsense.

Sorry for sounding so green, this law stuff makes no sense to me,

-O


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