I am just curious. What stops someone from writing a netflix application that allows the user to watch netflix on MorphOS? Is that there are certain memory protection that is not available on the operating system or that no one bothered to tackle it or is it technically impossible to do it?

Netflix doesn't really allow third party apps. Take a look at how hard it has been to watch Netflix in Linux for a long time.

I haven't looked but I wouldn't be surprised if it was built around Flash.

But there is netflix app for ps vita and mobile devices and all consoles. Aren't those third party apps?

[ Edited by MorphOSUser 12.10.2018 - 03:46 ]

Netflix console apps are 3rd party indeed - meaning that they’re done by Netflix and not the console vendors (1st parties in this case).

Better improving OWB so that it can run netflix.com I guess: there's no public Netflix API.

Improve all you want but Netflix will never work with OWB, due to the lack of DRM support.

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DRM cannot be implemented? (I have really no idea how DRM work)

@ Leo

Depending on which platform you use, Netflix' DRM system mandates the presence of various hardware features. For instance, if you plan to watch an UltraHD / 4K stream on a Windows PC, you need to use the Microsoft Edge browser and at least a 7th generation Intel processor. If you own a 32-core Ryzen chip and you like Firefox, you are out of luck.

Apart from required hardware features, DRM and a shared memory operating system do not seem to mix well on a conceptional level, do they?

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It cannot, since it requires a proprietary component which is out of our reach.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encrypted_Media_Extensions

DRM is as much about technology (read: hardware the PPCs do not have) and even more about politics. There is no way we could get any of our tech certified by Hollywood (Netflix has no say here practically).

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While that is true, they could offer their own content library, which is growing rapidly, without any DRM protection but I assume customers interested in DRM-free streaming represent too small of a niche to make anything like this feasible.

Netflix didn't work natively on Linux for a very long time either. You had to install a package that used Windows Firefox under WINE, which was as slow as all hell and which put it out of reach for early decade laptops running Linux. Now it runs on Chrome, which is still icky because most Linux users don't like Chrome in their b0xen stealin all their privacies. (And also runs on native Firefox too - at least most of the time - although a lot of distros hate DRM and won't have anything to do with it.)

Once the DRM tightened up again on Netflix maybe 6-7 years ago, it became problematic even for non-mainstream Android devices to watch Netflix. I used to get a black screen on my tablet and had to revert to a much older version of the app, which thankfully still works.

TLDR: DRM, no Wine, and no Android emulators.

And Netflix is one of the more friendly DRM-protected services: it's very tolerant of using older versions of access, so no worries about older browsers or Android versions. Most of the others (i.e. Amazon) are far worse.

Netflix did not even support the Nintendo Switch as a hardware platform, which has an install base of more than 20 million units.

Porting their App to that would be quite easy compared to having a (for them) complete different and new platform for a couple of hundred installed systems where only a fraktion would use netflix on and only a fraktion of those users would subscribe only because of the target platform..

It simply would be affordless.

[ Edited by geit 12.10.2018 - 15:58 ]

I would nominate VLC, Scribus, GIMP and LibreOffice ports to watching movies,one can pay to view on x86, pay a TV channel or buy end products. Productivity not home entertainment!

I agree with vox. After reading all of that..I would prefer VLC, Scribus, GIMP and LibreOffice over netflix in a heart beat.

@jacadcaps, @Piru: thanks for the details. I thought the web was free of this kind of closed stuff :/

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Politics definitely, Jacek.

F*** DRM, I strip it out of all the content I can, damn the US DMA. I will create and store backups of all the content I've paid for. I was able to do this legally the entire time I grew up and for decades after.

This is all about content control, property rights, and economics.


[ Edited by Jim 13.10.2018 - 18:30 ]

But you have to admit...it is pretty hot they are able to have content control over software via browser via add-on. That is hot....no?

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No. Netflix is terrible from both a technical and ethical standpoint.

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They wouldn't get any movies or TV shows to stream if they didn't prevent them being downloaded and kept. That's just the economic reality.

There's plenty of DRM-free movie streaming services on the internet. Mainly they offer things like straight-to-video fodder and grainy old movies from the 30s. Stuff that nobody cares about.