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I tried creating a web browser, and Google blocked me

blog.samuelmaddock.com

281–290 of 632 posts

Re: I tried creating a web browser, and Google blocked me

#281
post #239

> ...the creators of the open source browser Chrome, ... This assumption is a mistake the author is making. Chrome is, for all practical purposes, closed-source and proprietary. It's Chromium that is open-source. So far as I know, Chromium does not have Widevine included by default.

Chromium can download and install the Widevine module, just as Firefox can. The Widevine module, however, is closed source and proprietary.

I use Brave and Netflix and PrimeVideo work fine. How does that happen?

Re: I tried creating a web browser, and Google blocked me

#282

Let's add the US Congress and the EU to the long list of parties to blame for the DRM situation. "Reverse engineering" software for the purposes of "circumventing" copyright is illegal. "Circumventing" is much more broadly defined than it should be. It's not just illegal to redistribute copyrighted material. That's the point of copyright and has been the case for a long time. It's also illegal to watch/consume conten…

Completely agree. Those government believe that protecting intellectual property is necessary to further human and societal progress. I won't take a position on whether I agree with that or not.

However, based on that premise they've instituted rules to "protect" intellectual property, but unfortunately they're so weighted toward the "owner" of the IP that they do (IMHO serious) harm to regular users and consumers. It seems to me that regardless of which political side you fall under, we should agree that governments exist to protect the rights and interests of everyone, not just a select few.

Something is really wrong here, and getting mad at Google or Widevine or some other company is a red herring. The real problem is what we've allowed our government(s) to do. We need to fight back there. Once the government isn't propping up the companies anymore, their abuse will disappear.

Re: I tried creating a web browser, and Google blocked me

#285
> Waiting 4 months for a minimal response from a vendor with

> such a large percentage of the market is unacceptable.

Umm... expecting any kind of response from a vendor with such a large percentage of the market is... kinda arrogant.

Who are you to demand any kind of response from anyone? Big project or small? You'd probably be less offended if you had a better sense of self awareness about the nature of your relationship with Google.

Thinking that Google should kowtow to your desire to build a product is pretty foolish. You need to build a product and get some traction and then have some leverage. Widevine is evil. Google is evil.

... but so is Electron, and requiring your users to use a custom browser to use your product / feature. How about an Web Extension that coordinates playback in the browser, as opposed to a whole custom browser?

Re: I tried creating a web browser, and Google blocked me

#286

> Waiting 4 months for a minimal response from a vendor with > such a large percentage of the market is unacceptable. Umm... expecting any kind of response from a vendor with such a large percentage of the market is... kinda arrogant. Who are you to demand any kind of response from anyone? Big project or small? You'd probably be less offended if you had a better sense of self awareness about the nature of your relati…

He addresses this point specifically in his post ... developing it as an extension would reduce the features he can support, and further entrench it in google's walled garden (since he'd have to publish it on the chrome store).

I don't have much more context in this person's project than anyone else, but your response is kind of the point, one vendor has too much power because they can't be expected to support any kind of innovative ecosystem; yeah, that's not a great state of affairs, and begins to echo/suggest anti-competitive practices (whether on purpose, or just as a function of their size)

Re: I tried creating a web browser, and Google blocked me

#287

> Waiting 4 months for a minimal response from a vendor with > such a large percentage of the market is unacceptable. Umm... expecting any kind of response from a vendor with such a large percentage of the market is... kinda arrogant. Who are you to demand any kind of response from anyone? Big project or small? You'd probably be less offended if you had a better sense of self awareness about the nature of your relati…

Although you make some valid points it should not be main practice for companies to dominate the software scene, how else did the original great SW get made? It's almost impossible to start a garage band company and this is like large trees in the canopy shading out more light to the forest floor. Granted, it's not the best or only example of this interaction, but independent devs need equal representation against the Giants especially in starting new products.

Re: I tried creating a web browser, and Google blocked me

#288

> Waiting 4 months for a minimal response from a vendor with > such a large percentage of the market is unacceptable. Umm... expecting any kind of response from a vendor with such a large percentage of the market is... kinda arrogant. Who are you to demand any kind of response from anyone? Big project or small? You'd probably be less offended if you had a better sense of self awareness about the nature of your relati…

He addresses this point specifically in his post ... developing it as an extension would reduce the features he can support, and further entrench it in google's walled garden (since he'd have to publish it on the chrome store). I don't have much more context in this person's project than anyone else, but your response is kind of the point, one vendor has too much power because they can't be expected to support any ki…

Wouldn't a WebExtensions get you further out of the walled garden? Electron you're stuck with Blink where WebExtensions work with Gecko and Webkit as well.

Re: I tried creating a web browser, and Google blocked me

#290
post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, blame the movie studios, record labels etc. They're the one which require asinine DRM support for web browsers. Google/Microsoft/Apple/Adobe want to support media content, but to do so requires towing the line with the media companies otherwise they refuse to license the content (at least in HD+). Having worked with various DRM teams I know that they have to treat their code as if its the most secret code in the…

> No, blame the movie studios, record labels etc. They're the one which require asinine DRM support for web browsers. Google/Microsoft/Apple/Adobe want to support media content, but to do so requires towing the line with the media companies otherwise they refuse to license the content (at least in HD+). Let's say Google, Microsoft and Apple announce that they will be removing any DRM from their browsers on 2020-01-01…

> What do you think would happen?

Consumers will have to purchase or rent horrible and overpriced hardware supplied by broadcasters. Like they were doing for decades with satellites, and early IPTV.

Piracy will raise a lot. Many users don’t want to pay, or can’t pay for that custom hardware. I was using Netflix service for some time without major issues, but they don’t have anything in my country, too small one, they won’t be selling and supporting their set top boxes any time soon. Unlike accepting credit cards and broadcasting videos, physical retail doesn’t scale that easily.

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