So I gave in to pressures and went to sign up for Netflix. Actually, it appeared to be the model I think I'm looking for -- movies when I want them from the Internet (no cable). I had trepidation about the quality of the image streamed to the TV from my computer, but I was prepared to work on that.
So I sign up, hit play, and they tell me they won't play the movie because I don't use one of their supported operating systems. First bad thing: I know I'm using an off-the-mainstream operating system (Ubuntu), but that's my choice and my decision to deal with. Stream to me in a standard way and make it my problem to make it work.
So I cancel the account. Second bad thing: They force me to view a questionnaire with many complicated questions about why I'm canceling. Third bad thing: My reason isn't on the list, and they don't allow a free format comment.
So I hit "Contact Us". Fourth bad thing: They don't have an e-mail way to contact them.
Do I feel confident that Netflix will actually have a responsive phone system that lets me talk to a human, after the way they've demonstrated that they're not open to my way of doing things? No way.
Netflix, you ain't getting my money.
2 comments:
Streaming also not supported on Android due to security concerns :\
I took the free month and walked just the same. A contender (probably Amazon) will surely come up with a viable Linux-friendly alternative in the very near future.
Bad choices on their part.
I was a little surprised when it installed Silverlight on the Mac mini I have hooked up to the tv, but at least it worked.
There must be more portable ways to stream video? Or maybe Mono Moonlight would work?
On the positive side, I like the model and pricing, and they do seem to be pretty good on monitoring the quality of their streaming and giving credits when they have outages.
Aside from occasional annoying hiccups, I've found the quality pretty good.
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