Tag: Moonlight

Moonlight is a Novell-sponsored Linux implementation of Microsoft Silverlight, which is Microsoft‘s equivalent of Adobe Flash. We hate the idea of websites we can’t use, and like the idea of Linux-plugins that correct this. However, there is one show-stopping app for Moonlight: Netflix.

The Netflix Watch Instantly system is not supported under Linux, mostly because it uses Silverlight. It is particularly odd, as we know it could be supported under Linux. The Roku NetFlix/Video Player is Linux-based. Silverlight itself does not have the market-share Adobe Flash does, and we are thus surprised by Netflix’s choice.

The latest version of Moonlight, 2.0 preview, supports Silverlight 2.0, which is necessary for Netflix, but does not support the DRM stack, which is necessary for Netflix to run. We have high hopes this wll come someday. Until then, we guess we are limited to Flash-based web media.

Moonlight 2.0 Preview is available as a Firefox plugin for both 32 and 64-bit Linux distributions.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Microsoft Shoots Back at Adobe Over Silverlight (technologizer.com)
• Serious business behind Microsoft’s Silverlight-3 tease (theregister.co.uk)
• Moonlight Shines on Obama’s Inauguration (port25.technet.com)
• Obama Inauguration shines on Linux too with Moonlight (arstechnica.com)
• Microsoft throws Silverlight 3 beta at Adobe (Gavin Clarke/The Register) (techmeme.com)
• Microsoft lashes out at Adobe over Silverlight comments (infoworld.com)