Consumer Retorts: Apple Computer  Why is it easier to watch
Netflix movies on a PC than a Mac?   Consumer Retorts   so
you're about to use Netflix's "instant watching" feature on your
MacBook, when suddenly an error message pops up: "Sorry, blame
Steve Jobs." Huh? Wasn't the whole point of getting a Mac to
escape Microsoft's monopolistic tentacles and have the freedom
to do stuff like stream movies? The problem is that Apple won't
license its copyright-protection software to third parties like
Netflix. Predictably, Apple wouldn't emerge from behind its
titanium curtain to answer our questions about why it won't let
consumers use whatever video service they choose. John Sullivan
of the Free Software Foundation suspects that Apple wants you to
buy movies only from iTunes. That may keep Steve Jobs in black
turtlenecks, but it ticks off dedicated Mac users, many of whom
have no doubt noticed that Netflix movies play perfectly fine on
a stodgy PC.  Advertise on