Netflix CEO To Step Down From Microsoft's Board

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Considering the bang-up job he's been doing at Netflix, it's a miracle this hasn't happened sooner. :D

Hastings says he will end his five-and-half-year stint on the software maker's board to concentrate on running Netflix Inc. at a time the video subscription service is facing an assortment of challenges threatening its future growth. Hastings, 51, will leave the board when Microsoft Corp. holds its annual shareholder meeting next month.
 
In my experience, the higher up the ladder you go, the less the people know about the core business.

I'm sure they are the best of the best at what they do, but I have a feeling what they do is office politics. They know who is who, how to entertain, how to play people, and how to climb the corporate ladder and stay there.
 
at a time the video subscription service is facing an assortment of challenges threatening its future growth

And probably one of the biggest was the decision to use Silverlight.
 
It is a Microsoft product and it is cool to hate on them.

The issue with Silverlight is that it's cross-platform support sucks compared to alternatives and it's performance isn't anything to write home about either.
 
It is a Microsoft product and it is cool to hate on them.

Yes, that is one reason actually. I would dread to see MS's Silverlight gain the amount of web media monopoly that Adobe's Flash had over the years. The successor to Flash should be HTML5, not Silverlight. Also, it creeping into systems via software bundles and windows updates is annoying too and brings up red flags. It's usage rate is less than 1% on the entire web, which means that it's not even needed. It reminds me of Java and Quicktime, both of which creep onto systems via bundles or updates and are rarely actually used that much anymore.
 
Silverlight isn't evil, it's just hurting netflix's market. I just found it odd they they chose a platform that would limit their audience. Hey, I'm a .net developer, so don't accuse me of being of "thinking it's cool to hate MS" group.

Actually come to think of it, silverlight gave my wife's computer a memory leak for some reason. That and hotmail actually works better on non-IE browsers when silverlight is disabled.

Oh and yes, +1 for HTML5.
 
Yes, that is one reason actually. I would dread to see MS's Silverlight gain the amount of web media monopoly that Adobe's Flash had over the years. The successor to Flash should be HTML5, not Silverlight. Also, it creeping into systems via software bundles and windows updates is annoying too and brings up red flags. It's usage rate is less than 1% on the entire web, which means that it's not even needed. It reminds me of Java and Quicktime, both of which creep onto systems via bundles or updates and are rarely actually used that much anymore.

Silverlight isn't evil, it's just hurting netflix's market. I just found it odd they they chose a platform that would limit their audience. Hey, I'm a .net developer, so don't accuse me of being of "thinking it's cool to hate MS" group.

Actually come to think of it, silverlight gave my wife's computer a memory leak for some reason. That and hotmail actually works better on non-IE browsers when silverlight is disabled.

Oh and yes, +1 for HTML5.

Yeah, not gonna happen. HTML5 by definition is anti-content provider (theirs not mine). The fact that it is open source and that DRM media could be easily compromised (vs a closed platform) would be the main reason, along the lines of a rooted android not being allowed to use the Time Warner phone/tablet app to watch live TV.

http://kevinwhitman.com/2012/02/05/html5-and-drm/
 
I'm behind; what's the issue with Silverlight?

There is no support for GNU/Linux.

The web is supposed to be platform neutral. As such, the use of plugins is inherently bad. However Silverlight is particularly bad due to its very limited cross platform support.
 
The issue with Silverlight is that it's cross-platform support sucks compared to alternatives and it's performance isn't anything to write home about either.

Works fine on MacOS and Windows. Not theirs or Netflix's fault Linux distributions won't pay for DRM additions to Moonlight Mono.
 
There is no support for GNU/Linux.

The web is supposed to be platform neutral. As such, the use of plugins is inherently bad. However Silverlight is particularly bad due to its very limited cross platform support.

Ah, I wasn't aware. Been almost 10 years since I followed web development.
 
There is no support for GNU/Linux.

The web is supposed to be platform neutral. As such, the use of plugins is inherently bad. However Silverlight is particularly bad due to its very limited cross platform support.

I agree with you on plugins, but the fact remains that Linux users make up a small portion and getting smaller every year so companies are going to be supporting it less and less and switch to more mainstream and commercial venues, I.e. windows and osx.
 
There is no support for GNU/Linux.

The web is supposed to be platform neutral. As such, the use of plugins is inherently bad. However Silverlight is particularly bad due to its very limited cross platform support.

but linux works and does everything.

Silverlight is fine people. Just another its not on linux so it sucks argument.
 
but linux works and does everything.

Silverlight is fine people. Just another its not on linux so it sucks argument.

Yeah it irks me when they talk about it not being cross platform when it works on Windows, OSX, iPhone, Android phones, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, and numerous media center boxes (Boxee, WD Live, Google TV, etc).

Sounds like Linux itself is holding back. I'm sure Netflix is all too happy to provide streams to Linux users if someone would foot the license bill for the Silverlight (Moonlight Mono) DRM add-in. Sorry Linux, not everything's free.
 
I agree with you on plugins, but the fact remains that Linux users make up a small portion and getting smaller every year so companies are going to be supporting it less and less and switch to more mainstream and commercial venues, I.e. windows and osx.

Where are your numbers that state that GNU/Linux use is getting smaller every year?


but linux works and does everything.

Silverlight is fine people. Just another its not on linux so it sucks argument.

It is antithetical to the very concept of the web. Plugins have no place, period. HTML provides all that you need.

Yeah it irks me when they talk about it not being cross platform when it works on Windows, OSX, iPhone, Android phones, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, and numerous media center boxes (Boxee, WD Live, Google TV, etc).

Sounds like Linux itself is holding back. I'm sure Netflix is all too happy to provide streams to Linux users if someone would foot the license bill for the Silverlight (Moonlight Mono) DRM add-in. Sorry Linux, not everything's free.

First off, there is no magical "DRM" license. The Digital Restrictions Management used in Silverlight is propriety and has not been reverse-engineered; it is not a matter of purchasing some license.

Assuming there was a magical "license", I'm not about to pay for something that exists solely to pad the pocket books of the "content industry"; digital restrictions management harms the user and as such, forcing one to pay for it is like forcing the victim of a shooting to pay for their assailant's gun.
 
Yeah it irks me when they talk about it not being cross platform when it works on Windows, OSX, iPhone, Android phones, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, and numerous media center boxes (Boxee, WD Live, Google TV, etc).
I, like a lot of people, am extremely confused about Silverlight. Can you please clarify:
1. Is Microsoft planning to kill .net&silverlight, either on the mobile platform or the desktop?
2. If not, why did Microsoft feel the need to convey the impression that it was going to kill .net&silverlight?
3. Are .net&silverlight part of the core "Microsoft OS" API, or are they something separate?
4. If silverlight was "absorbed by" or "moved into" WinRT, why hasn't Microsoft made this clear in any of its official communications?
 
First off, there is no magical "DRM" license. The Digital Restrictions Management used in Silverlight is propriety and has not been reverse-engineered; it is not a matter of purchasing some license.

Assuming there was a magical "license", I'm not about to pay for something that exists solely to pad the pocket books of the "content industry"; digital restrictions management harms the user and as such, forcing one to pay for it is like forcing the victim of a shooting to pay for their assailant's gun.

http://www.mono-project.com/Moonlight/SecurityStatus

Digital Rights Management

Silverlight 2 supports Microsoft PlayReady Digital Rights Management (DRM). This is the DRM solution being used by Netflix's “Watch Instantly” service for streaming movies to PC (Windows-only) and Mac computers.

Status: unsupported

More information:

MSDN
Netflix FAQ

Lovely gun analogy by the way. Someone was right. You are off your meds.
 
It has nothing to do with buying a license. It would have to be reverse engineered.

I'll bite. Why hasn't Microsoft gotten around making a Linux port than, when clearly one of the more popular media center operating system is XBMC on Linux? Before you mention that the market share is small, then why have they wasted time on small market shares such as Boxee and WD Live and the likes?
 
I'll bite. Why hasn't Microsoft gotten around making a Linux port than, when clearly one of the more popular media center operating system is XBMC on Linux? Before you mention that the market share is small, then why have they wasted time on small market shares such as Boxee and WD Live and the likes?

Microsoft considers the GPL to be a cancer. They aren't about to help the enemy by releasing a version of Silverlight for GNU/Linux.

Netflix is not using Silverlight on Boxee or WD Live.
 
Works fine on MacOS and Windows. Not theirs or Netflix's fault Linux distributions won't pay for DRM additions to Moonlight Mono.

The hell it does. Mac users have more problems than Linux users since the version MS has made for Mac rarely stays in lock step with the Windows users. This caused big problems during the Winter Olympics and they still had issues for the one that just passed.
 
Yeah it irks me when they talk about it not being cross platform when it works on Windows, OSX, iPhone, Android phones, Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, and numerous media center boxes (Boxee, WD Live, Google TV, etc).

Sounds like Linux itself is holding back. I'm sure Netflix is all too happy to provide streams to Linux users if someone would foot the license bill for the Silverlight (Moonlight Mono) DRM add-in. Sorry Linux, not everything's free.

That is the problem with linux users they think everything should be free. Not just open source but not cost a freaking dime either. Like somehow the people who have to build these things live off hope and unicorn tears instead of money.
 
That is the problem with linux users they think everything should be free. Not just open source but not cost a freaking dime either. Like somehow the people who have to build these things live off hope and unicorn tears instead of money.

My Kickstarter account would say otherwise as I've funded a dozen GNU/Linux compatible games. The statistics from the Humble Bundle would also say otherwise; we actually pay the most on average per person. Windows and Mac users are cheapskates by comparison.
 
The hell it does. Mac users have more problems than Linux users since the version MS has made for Mac rarely stays in lock step with the Windows users. This caused big problems during the Winter Olympics and they still had issues for the one that just passed.

If the Winter Olympics was on Netflix, then I must have been blind to miss it on Windows, seeing how I'm a subscriber. My girlfriend's dad has a Core i5 iMac and he babysits our daughters when they get out of school until we get home from work and they're always watching shows on Netflix there. I'm not sure where your problems are coming from. Can you elaborate?
 
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