It looks like after all these years, Netflix is finally adding some Linux support.
Over at Ubuntu Developers, Netflix’s Paul Adolf said, “Netflix will play with Chrome stable in 14.02 if NSS version 3.16.2 or greater is installed. If this version is generally installed across 14.02, Netflix would be able to make a change so users would no longer have to hack their User-Agent to play.”
Terrence O’Brien at Engadget, which reported on this earlier, explains, “So what is NSS? It stands for Network Security Services which is a joint effort of Mozilla, Google and RedHat. They’re nothing you’d normally interact with as a typical end user, but they’re helpful for developers building applications where security is paramount. (And protecting the streams of intellectual property provided by movie studios and television networks is a pretty high priority for the folks at Netflix.) The current stable version of Ubuntu (14.04) is running a slightly older version of the plug in, but it should make its way to the OS soon via a security update. And the next version, due in October, should carry the newer NSS when it ships.”
Last year, Netflix started the switch away from Silverlight in favor of HTML5 thanks to some developments in the technology. As reported at the time, Linux users were still left out, and were voicing their disdain in the comments of Netflix’s blog announcement.
But the future is looking brighter these days.
As Netflix continues to expand into more countries, and has recently started showing us some new features, it’s nice that they’re starting to include Linux users in the fun.
Image via Netflix