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Many within the Linux community (even developers) refuse to include DRM software on the Linux platform. This, unfortunately, causes problems. One of the biggest, current, issues is the inability to play Netflix streaming content on Linux. This is directly caused by the lack of DRM on the platform. Should Linux adopt DRM, Netflix would probably come shortly after.


I don't believe this accurately represents the situation in the case of Netflix. Infact, the issue seems very much the oposite to what the article suggests.

Several of the appliances that provide a Netflix client are actually running Linux based specialized distributions. Tivo uses a specialized Linux based distribution and provides a Netflix client. I believe the Wii is also a *nix software stack. This shows that there is no technological limitation inherent in the OS.

Netflix originally said there was no market interest but the forums are full of developers volunteering to help get a client implemented for general purpose Linux based OS (I'm guessing other OSS developed general purpose platforms also). This shows that market interest exists and resources exist which would not negatively impact Netflix budget constraints.

But here's the issue; Netflix system relies on Silverlight and it's DRM framework. At the moment, Silverlight delivers better streaming video than Flash and similar languages. While Microsoft has allowed the Moonlight re-implementation of Silverlight for *nix platforms, they have stated outright that they will not allow the DRM framework for general purpose Linux based OS.

So, in this case it is not at all an issue of Linux based distro maintainers unwilling to allow a Netflix client application and related DRM. The actual issue is that the DRM developer is unwilling to allow an implementation for general purpose OS.

Unless I'm not understanding the situation correctly basd on past Netflix related discussions; Come on Jack, your fact checking has really been slipping over the last few months.