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Comment by chris_mahan | Hacker News Reader

I don't have netflix. If everybody does the same, they'll go out of business. Or are you all addicted to TV?

I think you totally missed the point. We don't want Netflix to go away. (Actually, Netflix is one of the most important technology companies in existence at the moment). We want better behavior.

Why is it one of the most important?

it's providing a service that will hopefully lead to a more open future. instead of being forced into buying bundled cable packages, maybe one day we'll be able to have more specified choices. i'd say services like Netflix, Hulu, etc. are all things that push towards that. at least i hope

I still don't really understand the importance of this. Also rather than being open, isn't Netflix still locked down with DRM? I seem to recall there is a Netflix DRM plugin built into ChromeOS.

DRM is what some content creators want right now and so that's what they'll get.

And the importance is the presence of competition where there otherwise wouldn't be any

Because before Netflix, legally streaming copyrighted movies to your computer was a pipedream and now we have several successful providers including Amazon, Vudu, CrunchyRoll, YouTube Live, Hulu, as a part of Hulu various television networks. The Superbowl was on the internet this year. That's kinda big.

It's partly responsible for bringing options to people with regard to what they see.

It's not. I don't watch TV. It's not relevant in my life.

I watched a little bit of the Olympics (my wife made me) and while the ladies figure skating was ok, the rest, and especially the commercials, made me feel dumb.

I had to go read a good book (Storm of Steel by Ernst Junger) to boost my mental processes back to normal.

Stupid TV.

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