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Is there a technical reason that this can't simply be disabled with a feature flag like many of Chrome's other features? It would avoid the whole issue. Also r

by adzm 10y ago

Is there a technical reason that this can't simply be disabled with a feature flag like many of Chrome's other features? It would avoid the whole issue. Also reading this bug report makes me realize this is probably what was going on when I had similar strange issues happen with chrome and tabs and running stuff through HDMI splitters for KVM etc.

zeta0134 10y ago
There isn't a technical reason it shouldn't be able to be implemented. Mostly it's a matter of getting the UI preference hooked up; it looks like they've already done something similar with the Flash plugin for users which wish to disable Flash, and this is a similar case. The reality of the Flash situation is quite messy, with a ton of websites relying on nonstandard behavior and checks to see if Flash is even installed, and Google seems to have missed the use case for disabling the plugin entirely, rather than just blocking it. This seems like a similar oversight. I'm torn here, as I see what Google is trying to accomplish with their settings spread. Mostly, the browser has chosen quite sensible defaults for the bulk of its users that needs the web to JustWork(tm) and they're hesitant to add extra checkboxes to avoid confusing folks. But with the politically charged nature of DRM, as well as the technical issues presented here (HDMI / HDCP is notoriously finnicky and the user should have more control over when it's enabled) I think a checkbox to disable the plugin entirely, similar to Flash, is the best solution.
- paralelogram 10y ago
  Non-standard ways of embedding Flash are common because of Eolas patents: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eolas#Effects_on_other_browsers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eolas#Effects_on_other_browser... https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms537508.aspx https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms537508.aspx

by adzm 10y ago

zeta0134 10y ago

There isn't a technical reason it shouldn't be able to be implemented. Mostly it's a matter of getting the UI preference hooked up; it looks like they've already done something similar with the Flash plugin for users which wish to disable Flash, and this is a similar case. The reality of the Flash situation is quite messy, with a ton of websites relying on nonstandard behavior and checks to see if Flash is even installed, and Google seems to have missed the use case for disabling the plugin entirely, rather than just blocking it. This seems like a similar oversight. I'm torn here, as I see what Google is trying to accomplish with their settings spread. Mostly, the browser has chosen quite sensible defaults for the bulk of its users that needs the web to JustWork(tm) and they're hesitant to add extra checkboxes to avoid confusing folks. But with the politically charged nature of DRM, as well as the technical issues presented here (HDMI / HDCP is notoriously finnicky and the user should have more control over when it's enabled) I think a checkbox to disable the plugin entirely, similar to Flash, is the best solution.

paralelogram 10y ago
Non-standard ways of embedding Flash are common because of Eolas patents: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eolas#Effects_on_other_browsers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eolas#Effects_on_other_browser... https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms537508.aspx https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms537508.aspx