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If I may chime in on this: > IE is catching up but limping. IE caught up already, and I don't see any evidence that it's limping. I actually kind of a

If I may chime in on this: > IE is catching up but limping. IE caught up already, and I don't see any evidence that it's limping. I actually kind of agree, and I'm surprising myself in saying that. Just from a consumers perspective, I found at least one place where IE offers something that I directly wanted to do that couldn't be done on any other browser. I wanted to watch a HD Netflix on my laptop, but the Silverlight client had no hardware acceleration so it played terribly. Turns out, there is a hardware accelerated HTML5 version of Netflix that's only usable using IE since only IE has the necessary DRM. I was quite surprised. Ignoring the potential ethical quagmire here, I thought it was interesting that there was something where IE gave me a better experience.

fpgeek 13y ago
I believe that hardware-accelerated HTML5 version of Netflix is also used on ChromeOS (since Silverlight isn't an option). It surprises me a bit to hear that the same doesn't happen with desktop Chrome.
- makomk 13y ago
  Not quite - it's used on (some) Chromebooks, as in the HTML5 version of Netflix only runs on locked down hardware from Google partners. Unlock the hardware so you can run your own software on the Chromebook and the media decryption module refuses to decrypt anything. The various content providers seem to have used the advent of HTML5 to insist on stricter DRM requirements, ones that can only be met through control over the entire hardware and software stack. I presume Microsoft's version uses the long-standing GPU support for hardware decryption and acceleration of DRMed video instead of whatever ChromeOS does. Apparently unlike the Google version it's possible for other browsers to freely support HTML5 EME that's compatible with Microsoft's DRM, but naturally only on Windows: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/dn466732.aspx http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/dn46673...
josteink 13y ago
I wanted to watch a HD Netflix on my laptop, but the Silverlight client had no hardware acceleration so it played terribly. Turns out, there is a hardware accelerated HTML5 version of Netflix that's only usable using IE since only IE has the necessary DRM. I was quite surprised. Ignoring the potential ethical quagmire here Let's not. DRM on the open web is bad. DRM on the open web is an open specification for how to close the open web. If Netflix had decided to use a standard mechanism to deliver video, instead of relying on closed, proprietary DRM-plugins, everyone would be able to provide this good user-experience. Not saying MSIE hasn't improved, but enabling DRM on the web is not in any way improving anything. It's bad. All bad. Bad for the present, bad for the future. It needs to die.

fpgeek 13y ago

I believe that hardware-accelerated HTML5 version of Netflix is also used on ChromeOS (since Silverlight isn't an option). It surprises me a bit to hear that the same doesn't happen with desktop Chrome.

makomk 13y ago
Not quite - it's used on (some) Chromebooks, as in the HTML5 version of Netflix only runs on locked down hardware from Google partners. Unlock the hardware so you can run your own software on the Chromebook and the media decryption module refuses to decrypt anything. The various content providers seem to have used the advent of HTML5 to insist on stricter DRM requirements, ones that can only be met through control over the entire hardware and software stack. I presume Microsoft's version uses the long-standing GPU support for hardware decryption and acceleration of DRMed video instead of whatever ChromeOS does. Apparently unlike the Google version it's possible for other browsers to freely support HTML5 EME that's compatible with Microsoft's DRM, but naturally only on Windows: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/dn466732.aspx http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/dn46673...

josteink 13y ago

I wanted to watch a HD Netflix on my laptop, but the Silverlight client had no hardware acceleration so it played terribly. Turns out, there is a hardware accelerated HTML5 version of Netflix that's only usable using IE since only IE has the necessary DRM. I was quite surprised. Ignoring the potential ethical quagmire here Let's not. DRM on the open web is bad. DRM on the open web is an open specification for how to close the open web. If Netflix had decided to use a standard mechanism to deliver video, instead of relying on closed, proprietary DRM-plugins, everyone would be able to provide this good user-experience. Not saying MSIE hasn't improved, but enabling DRM on the web is not in any way improving anything. It's bad. All bad. Bad for the present, bad for the future. It needs to die.