Joost Web Version Goes Live – More Community, More Crashing

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Joost just soft-launched its long-awaited in-browser version. It’s throwing several errors (see the red bar in the screen grab) and crashed my browser eight times in a row but, with perseverance, I managed to watch Amy Winehouse buy burgers at a McDonalds drive-thru and an episode of Transformers.

This version requires a small proprietary app, “JoostHelper”, be installed – a bit of a drag, since Joost requires both the plugin and Adobe (NSDQ: ADBE) Flash, while offerings like Hulu and iPlayer manage without the plugin. In fairness, others like Sky Player do use a plugin, too. This is just a “soft launch” for Joost and will be tested in the open.

Writing a blog post, CEO Mike Volpi: “One of the great things about working at a startup is the ability to be flexible and make changes when our users, trends or data suggest a new direction. For much of the past year, we