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Its not confusing. hkmurakami clearly states he wants to know how he can ease the transition to Linux for the average user. The average user isn't going to both

Its not confusing. hkmurakami clearly states he wants to know how he can ease the transition to Linux for the average user. The average user isn't going to bother with the steps you mentioned. Just because it can be made to work doesn't mean its an acceptable solution for the average user. Look at it this way - lets say I made, for example a fingerprint scanner for Windows, and you wanted to use it for Linux. I could say "yes! it works on Linux! You just have to write your own C driver!" You can clearly see this isn't an acceptable solution as writing a driver is needlessly complex especially if you don't have the proper documentation. Now you might argue that writing a driver and searching Google for pipelight are in way two different leagues - but to the average user, asking them to do that might as well be the same as asking them to write their own driver. Even the instructions you gave are confusing. Follow the instructions for your distro? Wait, you expect the average user to use the command line? What distro am I using? Linux? Should I follow AV Linux? Because you most likely work with computers everyday on a professional level, you are vastly overstating the know-how of the average computer user. So yes, Netflix does work on Linux - if you are a wiz enough to get it up and working. The average user? No.

simoncion 13y ago
You two are ignoring most of what I wrote my very first comment to freehunter. Let me put it into context for you with some quotes: F: "In reality, Netflix doesn't work on Linux." Me: "Netflix does work on Linux in the same way that a program written for a device that doesn't yet have a C compiler does work. ... [Netflix is] probably too much hassle to be worth it for non-tech folks..." F: "My point was, Netflix does not work. It can be made to work, but by default, it does not work... Netflix does not work on Linux. It can merely be made to work." Me: "If you can make something work on Linux, then it works on Linux. Your assertion to the contrary is confusing." 1) Do you still not see how the words he wrote are confusing? If you can make something work, then it works! 2) Where does freehunter restrict the scope of his assertion to the set of people who would never, ever, ever read HN or any other tech site? I don't see anywhere in his argument where he does that. As far as I can tell, he never says "Netflix actually does work on Linux for people who are technically inclined." The only thing that I see him saying about Netflix on Linux is that "...it does not work on Linux [unless you install the software needed to make it work]... [but even if you did that, that's not really Netflix working on Linux, for... reasons!]" Did I misread his posts?
- freehunter 13y ago
  The original discussion was around people with limited technical ability, and I called this out at picking someone off the street. My car is missing the timing belt. It doesn't work. It can be made to work by putting a new belt in it, but I wouldn't tell someone that my car works. The best I would describe it as is a "yes, but it will take some work". For all intents and purposes, it might as well not work.
  - simoncion 13y ago
    > The best I would describe it as is a "yes, but it will take some work". I can do one better: "My car is missing its timing belt and needs another. Otherwise, it's in good working order." > The original discussion was around people with limited technical ability [thus it should have been obvious what I meant.] So, a suggestion: rather than saying "In reality, Netflix doesn't work on Linux." or "My point was, Netflix does not work.", say something like "Netflix on Linux is too hard for the man on the street to manage.". Yanno, I said exactly that in my first reply to you, but I guess that you missed the point that I was making. Maybe you were in too much of a hurry to carefully read the words that I carefully selected to most precisely get my point across. shrug

simoncion 13y ago

You two are ignoring most of what I wrote my very first comment to freehunter. Let me put it into context for you with some quotes: F: "In reality, Netflix doesn't work on Linux." Me: "Netflix does work on Linux in the same way that a program written for a device that doesn't yet have a C compiler does work. ... [Netflix is] probably too much hassle to be worth it for non-tech folks..." F: "My point was, Netflix does not work. It can be made to work, but by default, it does not work... Netflix does not work on Linux. It can merely be made to work." Me: "If you can make something work on Linux, then it works on Linux. Your assertion to the contrary is confusing." 1) Do you still not see how the words he wrote are confusing? If you can make something work, then it works! 2) Where does freehunter restrict the scope of his assertion to the set of people who would never, ever, ever read HN or any other tech site? I don't see anywhere in his argument where he does that. As far as I can tell, he never says "Netflix actually does work on Linux for people who are technically inclined." The only thing that I see him saying about Netflix on Linux is that "...it does not work on Linux [unless you install the software needed to make it work]... [but even if you did that, that's not really Netflix working on Linux, for... reasons!]" Did I misread his posts?

freehunter 13y ago
The original discussion was around people with limited technical ability, and I called this out at picking someone off the street. My car is missing the timing belt. It doesn't work. It can be made to work by putting a new belt in it, but I wouldn't tell someone that my car works. The best I would describe it as is a "yes, but it will take some work". For all intents and purposes, it might as well not work.
- simoncion 13y ago
  > The best I would describe it as is a "yes, but it will take some work". I can do one better: "My car is missing its timing belt and needs another. Otherwise, it's in good working order." > The original discussion was around people with limited technical ability [thus it should have been obvious what I meant.] So, a suggestion: rather than saying "In reality, Netflix doesn't work on Linux." or "My point was, Netflix does not work.", say something like "Netflix on Linux is too hard for the man on the street to manage.". Yanno, I said exactly that in my first reply to you, but I guess that you missed the point that I was making. Maybe you were in too much of a hurry to carefully read the words that I carefully selected to most precisely get my point across. shrug