Redis is no longer free software

Posted Mar 21, 2024 21:41 UTC (Thu) by donbarry (guest, #10485)
In reply to: Redis is no longer free software by AlecTavi
Parent article: Redis is no longer free software

Let's not continue to use Berners-Lee as a model of ethical behavior. His overriding of an immense groundswell of popular opposition to capitulate to the big media companies and ram through Encrypted Media Extensions as an official part of the W3C standard turned the corner of his being a servant of the community to his being a puppet of business interests.

Honor him for what he was, but not for what he is, which only deserves contempt.

Redis is no longer free software

Posted Mar 21, 2024 22:33 UTC (Thu) by bluca (subscriber, #118303) [Link] (8 responses)

You seem to imply that the alternative to EME was no DRM. That is false. The alternative was having to reboot into Windows to watch Netflix. Is DRM bullshit? Yes. But it's not going away because some greybeards on their 0.x% of market share don't have it, so I'd rather have a well-defined common API in the browsers for it, instead of proprietary shitshows that were there before. Already forgot about how much fun it was when the only way to consume media online was Flash, or Silverlight? THAT was the alternative. Thanks, but I'll take EME and widevine any day of the week over Silverlight.

Redis is no longer free software

Posted Mar 22, 2024 0:46 UTC (Fri) by roc (subscriber, #30627) [Link]

This!

Also, the oppose-EME-at-all-costs people predicted that it would inevitably lead to DRM for all Web content. It's been nearly 10 years and there's no sign of that.

Redis is no longer free software

Posted Mar 22, 2024 1:30 UTC (Fri) by IanKelling (subscriber, #89418) [Link] (5 responses)

> You seem to imply that the alternative to EME was no DRM. That is false. The alternative was having to reboot into Windows to watch Netflix.

> Already forgot about how much fun it was when the only way to consume media online was Flash, or Silverlight? THAT was the alternative.

I have a teenager who watches youtube with no EME and doesn't give a shit about netflix. I've lived the majority of my life when netflix.com didn't exist. People without TVs existed, and people without EME exist and are thriving. How does it feel to be/act like a shill? https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/cancel-netflix-if-you...

Redis is no longer free software

Posted Mar 22, 2024 2:55 UTC (Fri) by dvdeug (guest, #10998) [Link] (3 responses)

I don't use a feature is not an argument for a feature to not exist. If you don't want to use Netflix, that's your choice. The feature makes it easier for certain people who do want to use Netflix to use Netflix.

Redis is no longer free software

Posted Mar 22, 2024 5:37 UTC (Fri) by donbarry (guest, #10485) [Link] (2 responses)

This feature is bowing down to the profit interests of corporations rather than the interests of an open and interoperable web, the entire original justification for which Berners-Lee I was justly celebrated before Berners-Lee II sold out.

"It's easier to capitulate before corporate interests." Well, maybe in the short term. That EME hasn't gobbled up more of the web *yet* is no justification for its existence.

I've never installed it. I've certainly never subscribed to one of the delivery services that would use it. I can't say I've ever missed it, and I also sleep well at night.

Redis is no longer free software

Posted Mar 22, 2024 6:52 UTC (Fri) by Cyberax (✭ supporter ✭, #52523) [Link]

> This feature is bowing down to the profit interests of corporations rather than the interests of an open and interoperable web

It allows corporations to provide an open and interoperable DRM that doesn't require intrusive measures or custom applications.

But it's bad because it allows people to watch TV without intrusive measures or custom applications.

Got it.

Redis is no longer free software

Posted Mar 22, 2024 11:44 UTC (Fri) by bluca (subscriber, #118303) [Link]

We did not have "an open and interoperable web" before EME, we had Silverlight that didn't work on Linux, and Flash that sometimes worked after endless tinkering completely out of reach of non-tech-savvy users.
Thanks to the EME standard interface, and thanks to corporations that maintain builds of the implementation that work, things that people actually want to use nowadays "just work" on Linux too. We are so much better off now than we were before, and it's not even close.

Would it be even better without DRM? Of course, but a strongly worded blog post from a height of 0.0x% of market share is not going to make that happen, because we live in a capitalist society and that's just not how capitalism works.

Pick your battles.

Redis is no longer free software

Posted Mar 22, 2024 7:32 UTC (Fri) by IanKelling (subscriber, #89418) [Link]

Excuse me, I shouldn't have wrote the shill bit. I wasn't thinking as I normally would.

Redis is no longer free software

Posted Mar 22, 2024 7:08 UTC (Fri) by LtWorf (subscriber, #124958) [Link]

It has never once worked for me.

Firefox downloads the proprietary thing, and then it doesn't work.

That's it.

.mkv files on the other hand work very reliably.

Redis is no longer free software

Posted Mar 21, 2024 23:55 UTC (Thu) by Cyberax (✭ supporter ✭, #52523) [Link]

Why is EME bad? It's an option for people who want it. You're totally free to ignore it.

Redis is no longer free software

Posted Mar 22, 2024 1:16 UTC (Fri) by IanKelling (subscriber, #89418) [Link] (1 responses)

+1, no to tbow.

Redis is no longer free software

Posted Mar 22, 2024 9:18 UTC (Fri) by mjg59 (subscriber, #23239) [Link]

This is terrible thread drift, but:

A frequent defense of Richard Stallman is the work he did in the 80s to make free software a reality. If your argument with respect to Tim Berners-Lee is that we should feel free to criticise people based on their current behaviour with no regard to what they achieved in the past, are you fine with criticism of RMS that ignores everything he achieved in previous decades?