What is all the fuss about Netflix?
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| gary_newell Sep 24, 2014 3:15 AM EDT |
The whole Netflix and Linux thing seems to be the talk of the town at the moment but I don't understand what the fuss is about Netflix. I am a Netflix subscriber in the UK and I can honestly say that my DVD collection is bigger than the selection of movies available via Netflix. (Especially the sort of thing I like to watch anyway). I tend to not watch tv through my computer anyway and so I am more than happy to use the XBOX to stream Netflix or use the Chromecast. It appears to me that for ages people went on about how Linux never had any good games and as soon as Steam came along the same people needed another stick to hit Linux with. |
| CFWhitman Sep 24, 2014 8:24 AM EDT |
I don't use Netflix much on the computer myself. I know that my nephews and nieces sometimes can't use a television and end up watching a movie another way, but I think tablets are more used by them than computers for that as well. The one thing about Netflix availability, though, is that it makes it easier to build a Linux HTPC with Netflix support. |
| number6x Sep 24, 2014 10:40 AM EDT |
OK. Putting my John Hughes hat on, I'll try to explain this... Think of a bunch of nerdy, geeky high school kids sitting in the cafeteria when the popular kids walk by. Maybe some of the popular kids are made up of the footballers and the cheer leaders and whatever. Then one of the nerdy kids notices one of the populars turning their head, looking directly at the nerdy kid and smiling a little bit. A nice smile, not snarky. Slow motion walk, head turn, smile. The nerdy kid will spend the rest of the day in the state of: ' OMG! They Looked at me! They smiled at me!' Linux just got a non-snarky smile from one of the populars. They know we exist. Queue the 80's New Wave music and fade out. (Oh, and Netfix is probably one of the whatevers.) |
| Bob_Robertson Sep 24, 2014 12:33 PM EDT |
Personally, I was always hoping for "Revenge Of The Nerds" Hot User: "That was wonderful! How did you get so good?" Linux: "All Nerds think about is hex. All Microsoft thinks about is profits." |
| lietkynes Sep 24, 2014 2:12 PM EDT |
It seems like you are taking the "Since it is not a problem for me, it is not a problem at all" line of reasoning. Reminiscent of the gnome way of solving issues. Although starting a conversation is already miles ahead of gnome, so I will try to provide one or two perspectives. Linux adoption: A lot of people enjoy netflix because it is an arguably cheap and easy way to find/watch shows/movies. A lot of people that use linux (probably Ubuntu) don't want to jump through hoops to access any service they pay for ("it is available on windows, so I should expect it on any computer"). Netflix is so popular, that it was one of those inconveniences people run into when switching to linux. It undoubtedly (anecdotaly) hinders adoption...to what degree, I don't know. I should note, however, that I am not bothered at all by people adopting Linux...it doesn't interest me. I use Linux because it is the only thing that works for me. I certainly can't understand how people live with Windows/Mac...but it's their problem. A more personal perspective: I enjoy being able to watch Cosmos on my laptop (although I already do it very easily with chrome). My family pays for Netflix, and it's not a nice feeling to pay for something and feel like a second-class citizen (linux). I can understand your perspective of not caring. There are many reasons for why one might consider this a non-issue...but the perspectives I gave are reasons enough for some people to care. More than anything, I'd suggest forsaking the "Since it is not a problem for me, it is not a problem at all" comments. You ask "Why do people care?" A good question. But the following anecdote of your experience doesn't really add much to the discussion. "I don't understand the fuss because the current situation works for me". This tends to be a common position to take in the tech world, and it leads to awkward situations (such as gnome not fixing problems because they can't relate to them). |
| gus3 Sep 24, 2014 4:31 PM EDT |
@number6x, thanks. Now it makes sense. ;-) |
| devnet Sep 29, 2014 9:26 AM EDT |
Netflix is so huge because people hate cable TV. If you don't understand that, then you lack perspective of what makes Netflix huge on any platform. |
| skelband Sep 29, 2014 12:50 PM EDT |
I would echo the sentiments of devnet above. It is particularly true in the US and Canada that the likes of Netflix and Hulu are immensly popular because the alternative, cab;e, sucks so much. It is expensive, most of what you get in the "minimum, basic" package is crap that nobody actually watches and most of what people are interested you have to pay extra for. Given all of that, you still have to watch endless adverts every 5 minutes. OF course, the cable companies know all this. They make a ton of money and are shit scared of the likes of Netflix eating their lunches. That's what this net neutrality thing is all about. They're frightened that they're going to become utilities and that will be a spectacular race to the bottom. I've been telling everyone that will listen for the past few years that cable TV in its current form will be gone within 5 years. Considering how quickly DVD rental shops disappeared, I still believe it. |
| Bob_Robertson Sep 29, 2014 1:27 PM EDT |
I only have cable because that's how TCP/IP is delivered. If fiber was available, or anything better than the 10down1up$50/m I get now, I'd drop the cable without a backward glance. I haven't had TV "service" since 2010. |
| JaseP Sep 29, 2014 1:31 PM EDT |
I weaned myself off of cable, and I couldn't be happier. I got a Hulu+ subscription to satisfy my daughter's need for Spongebob (and my own for Dr. Who,... although they aren't carrying the Series 8 stuff yet,... boo...). For the price of one month of cable TV, you can generally get one or more seasons of whatever show you like on DVD (and rip it to a HD, if you are so inclined). Heck,... I think I only paid about $25 for the entire Buck Rogers collection (OK,... maybe I over-paid...). Plus, I've begun to investigate the wonders of fan made fiction... Some of which is very, very good (Star Trek: Prelude to Axanar, as an example). Plus, the great thing about having a 6 year old daughter is that she watches the same 2-3 Disney Princess movies over and over again... The cable companies' greed is what's killing them. Forcing people to go all digital, with rented converter/tuner boxes (at $8 a piece),... no unscrambled Clear QAM, charging extra for HD, not including things like HBO in basic,... And trying to force bundles with broadband and phone are what is killing their industry. I'll take the jacked up broadband price and dump cable and phone any day of the week. If I have to have a cell phone anyway,... I'll just rely on that, and park my POTS telephone number on a internet service for $30 per year. When I'm done with my CS degree program, I'll use my spare time to beef up my server to include the things like Asterisk, and have a better media/communications/home automation system than any of those clowns can ever hope to sell me... Yeah,... Having Netflix (& Hulu) support helps, a lot, in dumping the greedy cable monster. THAT'S why Netflix support for Linux is important... |
| Bob_Robertson Sep 29, 2014 1:39 PM EDT |
> (and my own for Dr. Who,... although they aren't carrying the Series 8 stuff yet,... boo...) It makes it onto the Bittorrent sites within an hour of being aired in England. I tend to pick it up Sunday morning, for a relaxing fix of Who. |
| notbob Sep 29, 2014 1:39 PM EDT |
> scared of the likes of Netflix Perfectly understandable when you consider what Netflix is providing exactly what the cablecos originally promised, yet never provided, which is advert free content for a price. Remember the come-ons? "Would you pay money for advertising free programming?" In 62 yrs of watching, I've yet to see it. Have you? |
| penguinist Sep 29, 2014 2:28 PM EDT |
It's easy to see why the "broadcast industries" have a shaky future. Once people experience the convenience of watching the programming _you_ want and when you want it, its hard to go back. I recall the days gone by, when we used to wait until Saturday night at 8pm to watch the next exciting episode, with unfondness. Entertainment should be on our schedule, not on the schedule of the broadcasters. More and more, people will be slipping out of their grip. Just give me a nice big pipe and I'll take it from there, thank you. |
| gus3 Sep 29, 2014 2:36 PM EDT |
Quoting:Entertainment should be on our schedule, not on the schedule of the broadcasters.Mr. Rogers said the same thing. |
| skelband Sep 29, 2014 6:05 PM EDT |
The cable companies have been trying to play Netflix at their own game by introducing their own streaming services. They're doomed to failure. For one thing, there are still the adverts. Secondly, they're still far more expensive than Netflix and Hulu. Thirdly, they are only offering their own shows for that inflated price. They just don't get it because their thinking is too 20th Century. |
| CFWhitman Sep 30, 2014 9:15 AM EDT |
The services from cable companies are too paranoid as well. They often won't run unless you are connected through the cable ISP, and the companies usually try to stop them from running on Android machines with root access. Basically, they try to make the apps not work unless you are home where you could turn the TV on anyway. It seems like the cable companies' goal is to limit the use of the apps to computer or tablet access to another channel when someone else is using the regular TV or you're in a room without a TV. That doesn't appeal that much to me. I might have use for access from my set top box so that I could get more channels and more of them in HD, but that hasn't worked. |
| tuxchick Sep 30, 2014 12:03 PM EDT |
I like Netflix. I do not like companies like Netflix (amazon, google, etc) that build their empires on Linux and FOSS, and then ignore Linux clients. An incurable itchy pox on all of them. |
| skelband Sep 30, 2014 12:07 PM EDT |
@tuxchick Not that I'm defending them or anything but for some reason Netflix chose to release using Silverlight and its DRM implementation. So until Pipelight came along or that hacked Wine viewer, platforms were restricted to whatever Silverlight supported and given who wrote that, Linux was never going to be supported. :( |
| penguinist Sep 30, 2014 2:43 PM EDT |
skelband: I must have been sleeping to miss this. http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=286230 I'm going to try to install that on my linux-based media center. Maybe I can finally donate my WDTV box to the local thrift store. |
| helios Sep 30, 2014 4:33 PM EDT |
Yeah, see...that's the deal. CableCo's have no idea of the white-hot hate many subscribers have towards advertising. We dumped all but basic cable (Diane is an insomniac and has to have stuff to watch in the wee hours). I think by November, I should have her completely free of the TV portion of our cable service. Some nice young person is due to come into my home and take away my 50/5 modem and replace it with a 300/50 modem. For the same price I am paying now. People are actually leaving the "bedroom communities" and moving back into Austin so they can get in line for Google Fiber. Time Warner is trying to stem the customer bleeding as best they can. Since my business is here in Taylor, I shall stay, but many have shown no compunction to heading back into the urban jungle just for fiber. I have Roku 3, KDLInks and Chromecast in play now. She's just a bit gun shy about figuring out the 4 remote controls it takes to make it all dance in chorus line. Once that's done, we'll kill the basic cable portion as well. I can't imagine even 100/50 connection speeds, although changing from 20/2 to 50/5 was quite a pleasant surprise. |
| Bob_Robertson Sep 30, 2014 5:41 PM EDT |
> I do not like companies like Netflix (amazon, google, etc) that build their empires on Linux and FOSS, and then ignore Linux clients. Agreed. It's a nasty slap across the face. |
| helios Sep 30, 2014 7:37 PM EDT |
I would have thought better of Google, exhibit #1 - Linux client for Google Drive. I am an insync customer now. I didn't mind spending the 15 or so dollars on their product, it seems to work well enough. Still, Google's road to riches was paved by Linux. Apparently, to them it was just a tool...Never mind the buckets and buckets of code tens of thousands of Linux folks contributed to their end. But concerning Insync: Don't hook up an external USB drive and expect the backup or transfer rates to hum right along. More often than not, those bits and bytes will travel at the speed of smell and relegate your computer to a nice night light if you don't have video/monitor auto-off. |
| mbaehrlxer Sep 30, 2014 9:10 PM EDT |
JaseP: interested in star trek fan films?
are you aware of startrekreviewed.blogspot.com?
there are hundreds of them!
check the quick picks to get started. greetings, eMBee. |
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