Over the weekend, I tried out Netflix's Internet-delivered movie option. After installing Silverlight on my home PC, I fired up a movie.
Ten minutes into it, I had to stop. Every few seconds, the audio would skip ahead, meaning that you lost a word here, half a word there, which for me reached a fingernails-on-the-blackboard level of annoyance. I regularly watch shows on Hulu, which does not have this problem, so the Netflix experience suffered by comparison, too.
I'm telling you this anecdote not to rail against Netflix, or Microsoft Silverlight. I'm absolutely cool with the idea that there are kinks to be worked out. Maybe Silverlight has an issue with the 64-bit version of Vista, or there's some background process on my PC that's messing with the audio.
The real point I'm trying to make is this: Even as a tech-savvy person, I have no inclination whatsoever to diagnose and fix the problem. Multiply that lack of enthusiasm by at least a factor of ten for people who don't have the same level of experience and knowledge with PC issues, and could care less to learn about them.
I'm sure that either Netflix or Microsoft will fix the audio skipping problem. (A quick search revealed that I'm not the only one who's experienced it.) However, once again, a technology that should be as reliable and simple as turning on your television and flipping channels is anything but.
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