[tluyben2]

I think the DRM-less Netflix can only work if they would sell you the movies; they don't; they rent them. You did not pay $25-30 per item you watched after which you can say you own it; you paid a fraction.

So I agree with you; they make it easy for me to watch legal content, something I have been shouting for for years. I would not care about DRM if I could watch everything like I can on Netflix; unless I buy it (on a DVD or online, no difference), in that case I'm actively against DRM. I generally am because it doesn't really work for the purpose it's used for so then it's more of a hassle, but like said, I wouldn't care if it's seamless. There were times when I could not watch content in Linux because the DRM decoder didn't work in Linux, so even if I paid, I couldn't get the content I paid for. That's another story, but with HTML5 that's all fixed.

The only time I pirate things still if they put geo restrictions; if some episode (and this is not an IF this is reality) of a series i'm following is aired first somewhere else and I really want to keep up to date I have no choice. If Netflix could break that mold...

Maybe someone knows; for Netflix originals they presumably own the rights right? So why do those not air the entire world at the same time? As if my assumption is the case, that makes them more evil again. I do not know much about the rights in this case though so maybe some greater evil forces them to...

[digler999]

Goodness gracious, I cannot think of a single movie I would like to "own". Is it just me? Am I the only one who doesn't like to watch the same 90m video over and over ?

Sure I dont represent every consumer, but I think this is why netflix is successful: not overselling the customer. You get to use the content and put it back. I know how Titanic ends, I dont need to see it over and over again. I get no utility from that. Some flicks might have fanatics that want to "own" it (whatever that means), but most dont.

[khedoros]

There's a lot that I don't want to see more than once...and Netflix is great for that. There's a lot that I do watch at least several times (spaced out over years, often). If I see something being sold for an amount I'm interested in paying, it at least means that I don't have to track down how to watch it next time that I want to.

[kazinator]

> Goodness gracious, I cannot think of a single movie I would like to "own".

Aww, c'mon. Not even this?

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-smokey-and-the-bandit-th...

Ah wait, you said single movie. Wink! Gotcha.

[tluyben2]

I cannot think of that either. That is basically why I stopped caring about it, for good or for bad. I was a soapbox standing, card carrying anti DRM but it is not an annoyance anymore so I backed off. I cannot stand DRM or whatever it is called on chips for OSs though...

[ecnahc515]

Are you referring to SecureBoot?

[slrz]

There were times when I could not watch content in Linux because the DRM decoder didn't work in Linux, so even if I paid, I couldn't get the content I paid for. That's another story, but with HTML5 that's all fixed.

How? Do you really watch video in the browser on your computer where you can run Google-provided builds of Chrome? Isn't that pretty annoying?

What do you do if you have some random small ARM or Atom box running Linux with an UI that's convenient to use on the big TV screen it's connected to and using a remote control? I don't see an obvious way to watch DRM-protected video there. HTML5/EME doesn't help a bit as you still need a (binary-only) content decryption module that you can't get for your platform.

[tluyben2]

I guess I am old and did not have that issue yet. I have fought computing for so long by using Linux as my primary OS since the mid 90s, I guess sometimes I stop thinking when something just works. I am not Stallman and I realize even there that I am limiting myself but when it just works and the damage is less than what is possible in my mind I will accept it. I cannot see a solution that works currently and Netflix etc do provide something that works for a price which you do not have to think about and you do not have risk of the feds running in. Maybe there is something here as a middle ground. Annoying as it is when you think about it, it seems to improve... You are right and yes when I think about it it is annoying as hell, but a) netflix simply cannot do without or they would have no content (my question about ownership remains) b) we have no good rapport for just opening up all. I understand we all are doing that anyway but not for most and so it is a hard sell.

Edit: as someone who grew up in the 80s, Linux is the best thing that happened to computing outside the internet and Linux was a large part of that as well. It was hell before with MS, Sun, HP, SGI, Digital, etc and their flavours of hell. They did a lot of good but the closed off nature was terrible.

[khedoros]

> What do you do if you have some random small ARM or Atom box running Linux with an UI that's convenient to use on the big TV screen it's connected to and using a remote control?

Myself, I run a small ARM box running (an embedded and completely inaccessible) Linux, designed as a dedicated streaming device (or sometimes a similar device that is included in the workings of my Blu-Ray player). I'm not particularly interested in using a TV as a display for a general-purpose computing device, so this works well for what I want to do.

I have a few ARM boxes that can't play anything DRMed other than what's handled by libdvdcss or libaacs, but those are the devices that I wouldn't use to play video even if I could.