Hi folks,

got the following email from Blinkbox...

Dear Alex,

Here at blinkbox, we’re always trying hard to deliver the best movie experience for our customers. As part of this we wanted to let you know that from the 28th August we are switching from Adobe Flash Player to a new video player called Microsoft Silverlight when you use blinkbox.com on your computer.

We believe this will provide you with a better movie service, because:

• Silverlight will improve the viewing experience for our PC and Mac users
• It will deliver a ‘smooth streaming’ video service, meaning a higher quality picture for you
• It provides greater security than Flash against piracy, ensuring we can continue to show you great movies and TV shows.

You will probably already have a version of Silverlight installed on your computer, but if not you will need to install new software from the Microsoft website. Alternatively, simply follow the onscreen instructions when you visit blinkbox.com from the 28th August.

If you do get stuck or have any questions then please feel free to contact us at support@blinkbox.com.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause you, but we really think it’s worth it and hope that you continue to enjoy great movie experiences at blinkbox.

Kind regards,

Michael Comish
CEO, blinkbox


I've emailed them back, asking..

hi folks,

I'm disappointed to hear about your changes - does this mean I can no longer test or play content on my Linux equipment?

Will my LG 32LV550T-ZC TV still be supported?

Please reconsider - as you are locking linux users out of your platform.

This is bloody sick..

Silverlight seems to be a platform preferred by the big studios. Companies like Blinkbox either go with it or lose their rights to stream the films. It's not really their fault.

So it looks like once Ubuntu 10.04 is EOL on my netbook, I bin my netbook and have to stick to MS for everything...

Just doesn't seem fair...

They're all at it, switching from Flash to Silverlight and flipping the finger (figuratively speaking) to Linux users. I note Microsoft are trying to convince the UK Government to switch to Silverlight (if they do, I shall be writing a letter to my MP) and other organisations who don't want to use HTML5 have gone from Flash to Silverlight.

The big argument amongst transition from Flash to Silverlight is piracy and ultimately, that's Linux in the firing line, and I resent Linux being aligned with piracy, as the likes of Sony and other big businesses and rights organisations have attempted to do over the years.

Especially considering that in a lot of cases, Linux kernels are used on some of the Approved Appliances - scratch that - most of them..

google "moonlight" its silverlight for linux. I'v used it in the past & it worked great but i haven't used it recently.

Moonlight doesn't include the DRM component from Silverlight, and never would tbh.

This is the consequence of some people's campaigns against Flash, and Adobe's cack handed approach to that means nobody in the industry trusts Adobe Access to replace Flash protected streaming. Not that Adobe are likely to support Access for Linux in the long term anyway.

Professional companies will never, ever, ever use HTML5 (unless the DRM work being undertaken by the W3C bears fruit, which will take years), and you will not ever get them opening up the liability can of worms that is open implementations.

Moonlight developers offered to implement DRM and they were categorically turned down. As a result the Moonlight project is dead.

For Linux to continue on the desktop int eh consumer sphere, it looks horribly like "Make sure you have a separate certified Blinkbox appliance to watch the content", as I will be able to manage my account on their site...

Or is the lack of streaming media going to kill desktop Linux? Be a terrible shame if it does.

Steam are coming to Linux so I am hoping the rest will see sense and follow suit. I want to get rid of Windows completely but I can't because of Netflix and Steam games (for now).