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HBO Max drops Linux support in all browsers?
- kgraves 6y agoWait, HBO Max supported Linux? To be honest this outcome is unsurprising, especially when users using Linux on the desktop (Not Android) accounts for less than 4% market share worldwide. [0] [0] https://netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx https://netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.asp...
- tinus_hn 6y agoLosing 4% is quite a lot actually but probably the actual number of people that watch HBO on a Linux desktop is a lot lower than that.
- new_realist 6y agoYeah, it’s the poorest 4%.
- Angeo34 6y agoThis is how stupid companies are. Those 4% may not be a viable demographic of itself but by not supporting that 4% you explicitly tell them to pirate.
- exitheone 6y agoIf the loss of revenue through piracy is less than the cost of ongoing Linux support, then this is a sensible business decision.
- Dylan16807 6y agoMaking sure your website doesn't explode should have minimal cost. 4% of revenue at this scale, minus server costs, is an enormous amount of profit. Supporting one extra browser/OS combo should take less than one dev.
- msandford 6y agoDoes that mean HBO are giving Linux users a license to pirate because that's cheaper for HBO than supporting them? Where do I sign up? What's beyond ridiculous is that I get HBO Max with my internet but I can't use it. Great...
- mav3rick 6y agoYour phone has an app.
- majewsky 6y agoAwesome, I get to view these amazing high-budget shows on a crappy 6" screen.
- exitheone 6y agoYep, you have no right to HBO, you only have the permission. If you are unsatisfied with your available options, I guess that's your problem not theirs. The only sad thing here is that most people in the US don't have the possibility of choosing a different ISP/Cable provider because they are all monopolies.
- Angeo34 6y ago
- ajross 6y agoIt's not a linux app, I don't think there's any native code involved, the reddit poster was just running it in Firefox. It's likely this is either a Firefox/platform bug or some sort of mistaken platform whitelisting on the part of HBO. Or plausibly it's a non-mistaken attempt to blacklist Linux users, but that seems rather less likely.
- elliekelly 6y agoBut that 4% is very likely to be able to afford to pay for HBO and know how to easily pirate HBO content. HBO should want to make it as easy as possible for them to become paying customers. Edit: Wording
- bachmeier 6y agoI can't comment on this, but Linux support is becoming standard. Hey, Todoist, Evernote, and the list goes on.
- turbinerneiter 6y agoHaha, spend millions on marketing but making a web app work in the _browser_ independently of OS is too expensive.
- LUmBULtERA 6y agoHBO Max also does not have apps for Roku and Amazon Fire devices. They like to make their supported clients feel exclusive.
- lstamour 6y agoThere are many posts online on how to sideload the APK on Amazon Fire TV sticks, etc. Though I'm not personally looking forward to a future where I can't use a web browser but instead have to run iOS or Android apps on my laptop...
- noodlesUK 6y agoWhat’s funny is that I’m certain that the vast majority of Linux users who were paying for this were trying really hard to watch these shows legitimately, and almost all of them will be antagonised by this and just download torrents or similar.
- mhh__ 6y agoIt increasingly seems to be only valve who understand that piracy occurs because of friction rather than price (for media like games and TV at least). I pirate quite a lot of games but if they're good I'm more than happy to buy it so I get multiplayer and cloud saves etc.
- teruakohatu 6y agoPirating games seems like a terrible deal when you consider the viruses, bot nets and bitcoin mining malware.
- reincarnate0x14 6y agoThose problems are almost nonexistent if you get past the public torrent sites. Lots and lots of impostor sites and users though, I assume most of it automated. The bitcoin mining problem is seeping into even free-to-play game markets, which I have mixed feelings about. On one hand, it's at least better than the corrosive influence of advertising.
- TheNorthman 6y agoIf you've ever contracted malware in any shape through piracy, you've been doing it wrong. Public torrent trackers are fine. The existence of various Scene indexing sites [0] allows you to verify a release before you download it. [0]: Like https://predb.me/ https://predb.me/ or https://www.xrel.to/releases.html https://www.xrel.to/releases.html
- gsich 6y agoOnly if you don't know what you're doing.
- adamnew123456 6y ago> Title: HBO Max drops Linux support in all browsers Is there some acknowledgment that this is actually official, a statement from their support or anything? Or did they just push some change and not check that it actually runs on all the platforms their customers use? Neither would surprise me but there's nothing in TFA which says either way.
- Shank 6y agoI don't see any official announcement. In my browser's debug console, though, I see plenty of HTTP 400s from a POST to https://comet.api.hbo.com/drm/license/widevine?keygen=playready&drmKeyVersion=2 https://comet.api.hbo.com/drm/license/widevine?keygen=playre... with this as the response body: "Invalid License Request". It would not surprise me if they've intentionally or not changed the supported licensing schemes and invalidated all Linux support without realizing it.
- lvs 6y agoIt looks like it got lost in crossposting, but the original thread includes statements from CS drones that Linux won't be supported anymore. Plus lots of customer reports in the parent posting. https://www.reddit.com/r/HBOMAX/comments/i484wx/hbo_max_has_stopped_working_on_linux_within/g0i4tvm/ https://www.reddit.com/r/HBOMAX/comments/i484wx/hbo_max_has_...
- malkia 6y agoIn days like these I'm glad I have chromebook (then again, I haven't checked if HBO's android app supports such devices). Then again, I wish this didn't happen...
- bigmattystyles 6y agoHonest question, does linux support HDCP or other protections they feel they may need? Or is that not even at the OS level and could this be the reason for the dropped support?
- ReactiveJelly 6y agoIf HDCP requires any support at all from the GPU then I'm guessing it's hard to do, since GPU drivers other than Intel are usually garbage
- cgb223 6y agoWhat is it about Linux and/or GPUs that makes it so hard to write great graphics drivers for it? Do the two just not inter-operate well?
- rhn_mk1 6y agoIt costs money, and the market share is not so big. It has nothing to do with inter-operation, as Intel has proved. People also say nvidia's driver is great except from the friction coming from nvidia's political decisions not to cooperate with the rest of Linux community.
- TheCapeGreek 6y agoIt's not Nvidia's drivers being any good per se (some features are lacking, off the top of my head async reprojection for VR), just the hardware is strong enough to still perform well. With AMD the open source drivers are better than the proprietary ones and generally has an easier time with compatibility, but comes with its own host of issues (e.g. no Freesync over HDMI, no Freesync with >1 monitor if using xorg).
- Andrew_nenakhov 6y agoUh-oh. So, since they don't count me as a potential consumer of their content, does this mean I can just torrent all their stuff without repercussions? It doesn't look that such action will result in some lost revenie, right?
- globalproctd 6y agoI can't believe I have to say this to an adult, but: No, that does not mean you can steal.
- bluntfang 6y agotheft requires taking something from someone. in the case of media piracy, the license owner's property is not lost. This is not theft.
- globalproctd 6y agoYes... it is. You're not paying for the right to use something. That is theft of goods and services.
- bluntfang 6y agoDo you have any court precedents to back that up?
- DivisionSol 6y agoUh oh, you used the 'steal' word when referring to digital goods. A non-insignificant group of pirates don't consider downloading content to be 'theft.'
- globalproctd 6y agoYour comment isn't obvious as to which side you're on, so I'll repeat the same thing just in case: Not paying for the right to use something is theft of goods and services.
- mlthoughts2018 6y agoThe HBO Max saga is really tiresome. They really want you to think of Amazon and Roku as the bad guys, but they really, really aren’t. HBO threw so many loyal customers under the bus by not having Prime Video channels or Roku devices as supported options at launch. If you have been a loyal, full paying customer of HBO via Prime for years, suddenly you’re a second class customer paying the same price as Max, but without access to the expanded content. Even if you were willing to migrate that engagement to HBO’s preferred Max app, if you happen to have set up your home to rely on Roku devices, you are out of luck. It’s crazy town. Apparently HBO expects customers to just wholesale switch their preferred home device setup that is working well for use of Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+, ESPN, Showtime, etc. etc. just for the Max app. Crazy. I really hope the pressure ratchets up on them as nobody moves to Max as the early numbers have shown. HBO is a channel. It is not a competitor of Netflix or Hulu, and its whole value proposition of producing significantly higher quality original content rests on this. It should want to be a channel and not a platform. The whole strategy is rotten, and the tactical execution of Max is something really HBO should be ashamed of. What a way to damage customer loyalty.
- kgraves 6y agoJust get a device that supports HBO Max? I’m pissed they don’t support OS/2 but I can view HBO Max on my iPad instead.
- mlthoughts2018 6y agoIt’s deeply unrealistic to expect customers to change their viewing habits and buy new devices for this. People rely on the supported devices to stay stable over time because they may set up larger aspects of their home entertainment systems to rely on one device in a way that’s not cheap or easy to switch. People using Roku devices to watch HBO on a large television are not going to switch to a tablet or phone. Many of those people don’t have a smart TV with built in apps, nor any interest to pay the price for a video game system like PS4, nor the ability to switch everything to Apple TV (which frankly doesn’t work as well as Amazon Fire or Roku, just my opinion). And the costs for new devices are totally not justifiable if the only reason is one minor streaming app. Everything _but_ HBO Max works great on my Roku - that sounds like an HBO problem. “Just get another device” absolutely is not a feasible solution for most customers affected by this. As the numbers have shown, the vast majority of HBO’s ~36 million subscribers are not moving to Max, and are more likely to switch back to HBO on a linear cable subscription than switch platforms just for one minor app. If a few people were complaining, it would be their problem to deal with the device change. If 33 million people are complaining and ignoring HBO Max, it’s HBO’s problem. To boot, even if today the issue is with HBO Max not supporting Amazon Prime Video channels or Roku, they are just teaching customers to be wary - tomorrow it could be that they don’t like the deal from Apple TV or Playstation, and they are setting a disturbing precedent of throwing customers under the bus when that happens.
- gattr 6y agoTangentially related - I've just checked, luckily HBO GO still works (Fedora 31, Firefox 78.0.2).
- sys_64738 6y agoA webpage should not be making decisions based on the OS running the browser. The web is meant to be platform agnostic.
- wmf 6y agoProbably what's happening here is that HBO is requiring Widevide level 1 DRM but desktop Linux only supports weaker Widevine level 3.
- CodeSince83 6y agoThis is very likely the reason, unless it was unintentional.
- cardamomo 6y agoFollowing some of the threads on Reddit seems to add evidence for this. HBO Max is not filtering on User Agent string. Instead, it seems to be checking the Widevine keys.
- rasz 6y agoStill no Widevine crack/emulation after all the Intel CPU bugs?
- leo60228 6y agoFrom my understanding, it's relatively well known how to break Widevine L3, but nobody wants to release code (for obvious reasons). Widevine L1 is much better secured, as it's required to be implemented in hardware.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- Urgo 6y agoNot only did they drop linux support, they dropped support for paying customers via Amazon. I had been paying for HBO via Amazon Prime Channels to watch on my FireTV and also logging into HBO Now on my Nvidia Shield for 2+ years now. HBO just recently shut down HBO Now though and "upgraded" it to HBO Max, but does not allow Amazon users to log back in. After trying to contact HBO Max and HBO Now they both refused to acknowledge the issue so I just canceled my subscription. The only option I would have to watch on both devices would be to sign back up to HBO Max directly instead of HBO via amazon, but I'm good. They lost me as their customer due to their squabble with Amazon.
- akvadrako 6y agoI recently signed up to HBO and bought a Fire TV stick just to watch it - it took a month to arrive and by then they had dropped support. Very frustrating. There is a workaround though - you can sideload an APK of HBO Max. So it works - it’s just Amazon preventing it from being in their App Store.
- RickJWagner 6y agoI saw it myself. Fedora user, I've been using it for HBO Max for less than a month. Then POOF, it no longer works. Really poor handling of the situation, IMHO. You just get a message about 'Not able to play this video now, try again later.' Finding tech support contact links isn't easy. Per Reddit, if you do get ahold of them, they just brush you off. Overall a very poor user experience. Boo.
- 0xab7 6y agoI just cancelled all of my streaming services except for Netflix, Amazon and Hulu, and I will go back to pirating everything that is not available on one of those three services. Yea, btw -- fuck anyone that thinks that is stealing. They aren't losing a dime from me. There has to be some loss for it to be stealing. If they can get DRM to the point that I can't pirate it, I STILL wouldn't be paying since I can not only NOT watch them on Linux, but I can't even watch HBO Max or Peacock on Roku -- FUCK 'EM! Seriously, dropping support for Linux -- fuck you.
- jcsparks 6y agoduse for 20 years thy never supportedit anyways and i never thought thy drpped it o begin with tey never supported it. i thinknyour mistaken ad you should have told them macos but maybe you meed to contact your vendor for support and ot the idiots with the mpeg
- damm 6y agoRelated Reddit thread https://old.reddit.com/r/HBOMAX/comments/i484wx/hbo_max_has_stopped_working_on_linux_within/?sort=new https://old.reddit.com/r/HBOMAX/comments/i484wx/hbo_max_has_...