5 ms·

If they have it running on Android there is simply no excuse not to have it running on Linux.

by hristov 15y ago

jarcoal 15y ago
~50% of the smartphone market vs ~1% of the desktop market? I certainly sympathize, but that's the excuse.
- slug 15y ago
  That's true now, but the android market started from 0% at some point in the past and back then Linux on the desktop was non-zero. I can understand the growth predictions from one and the other but honestly don't see what's the difficulty on writing a multi-platform player, it cannot be because of the DRM requirements I would assume, since they already have it for a linux based machine.
  - shashashasha 15y ago
    Linux has and continues to be a rounding error in terms of marketshare. If it were to grow to something like Android marketshare I'm sure they would consider it, but just saying "android market started from 0% at some point" isn't really justification for them to do Linux right now.
  - iron_ball 15y ago
    Same as the difficulty of writing a multi-platform anything. All development takes time and effort, which equates to money. Netflix is simply measuring expenditure against likely reward.
bri3d 15y ago
The media decode pipeline on Android is nearly 100% different from the media decode pipeline on any other flavor of Linux I can think of. I don't know how having Netflix running on Android is really relevant to having it running on vanilla desktop Linux - the effort required is still large and the upside still simply isn't worth it to them, so they don't do it.
- groovy2shoes 15y ago
  The decode would be largely the same unless it were written completely in ARM assembly. A quick disassembly of the Android libs suggests that it's largely C++ (based on calling convention and name mangling). In that case it's the UI and the rendering that would be quite different. Coding a UI and some video isn't a zero-time process, but it's practically trivial (i.e., they could have an intern or two do it).
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]
  - bri3d 15y ago
    Releasing a product of any sort is not trivial when you're someone like Netflix - your product needs to be thoroughly vetted by your partners (who are interested in content protection), tested, and supported by real people.
    - groovy2shoes 15y ago
      I never said releasing the product would be trivial, I just conjecture that coding it would be. As far as content protection goes, they already have DRM code that they've already released and their partners have already vetted. Now all they need is a GUI of some sort.

If they have it running on Android there is simply no excuse not to have it running on Linux.

by hristov 15y ago

If they have it running on Android there is simply no excuse not to have it running on Linux.

jarcoal 15y ago

~50% of the smartphone market vs ~1% of the desktop market? I certainly sympathize, but that's the excuse.

slug 15y ago
That's true now, but the android market started from 0% at some point in the past and back then Linux on the desktop was non-zero. I can understand the growth predictions from one and the other but honestly don't see what's the difficulty on writing a multi-platform player, it cannot be because of the DRM requirements I would assume, since they already have it for a linux based machine.
- shashashasha 15y ago
  Linux has and continues to be a rounding error in terms of marketshare. If it were to grow to something like Android marketshare I'm sure they would consider it, but just saying "android market started from 0% at some point" isn't really justification for them to do Linux right now.
- iron_ball 15y ago
  Same as the difficulty of writing a multi-platform anything. All development takes time and effort, which equates to money. Netflix is simply measuring expenditure against likely reward.

bri3d 15y ago

The media decode pipeline on Android is nearly 100% different from the media decode pipeline on any other flavor of Linux I can think of. I don't know how having Netflix running on Android is really relevant to having it running on vanilla desktop Linux - the effort required is still large and the upside still simply isn't worth it to them, so they don't do it.

groovy2shoes 15y ago
The decode would be largely the same unless it were written completely in ARM assembly. A quick disassembly of the Android libs suggests that it's largely C++ (based on calling convention and name mangling). In that case it's the UI and the rendering that would be quite different. Coding a UI and some video isn't a zero-time process, but it's practically trivial (i.e., they could have an intern or two do it).
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- bri3d 15y ago
  Releasing a product of any sort is not trivial when you're someone like Netflix - your product needs to be thoroughly vetted by your partners (who are interested in content protection), tested, and supported by real people.
  - groovy2shoes 15y ago
    I never said releasing the product would be trivial, I just conjecture that coding it would be. As far as content protection goes, they already have DRM code that they've already released and their partners have already vetted. Now all they need is a GUI of some sort.