Why we use and contribute to open source software

techblog.netflix.com

33 points·twapi··6 comments

A nice post, but I agree with sumasmreq's comment (on the site). After reading this, it seems odd that their streaming video service uses Microsoft Silverlight.

It would either be Silverlight or Flash to preserve the required DRM features, as I understand it.

Or a regular, binary plugin, such as effectively all browsers allow. But those are harder to make work on lots of platforms.

I don't like the tone of the end of the comment though 'the question is no longer whether you can afford to support Linux desktop operating systems, but whether you can afford not to'

Yeah, just like everyone owns a nexus, huh buddy.

Google's has had as many massive flops recently as massive hits. And we're seeing a corporate culture of not following through when the going's tough. On the one hand you've got Android and Chrome, on the other you've got Wave, Buzz and the Nexus One.

Having not seen Chrome OS yet I can't say, but I wonder whether we're going to see The Professor or Uncle Fluffy.

I agree with the overall sentiment, but the Nexus One doesn't really fall into the latter category considering that they just released the Nexus S. They never abandoned the Nexus line itself, just their online-only distribution method.

Netflix are x264 users I believe but I've never seen any patches from them.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com