Last week, Hulu released it’s Hulu Desktop application for Mac and Windows, which allows you to stream it’s library of videos without using a web browser.
The current release is considered a “beta” while Hulu “[…] plan[s] to gather and incorporate user feedback to improve the service”. The software and it’s interface fill the entire desktop screen, much like Apple’s DVD player application, to provide a menu of available videos and full-screen viewing. The software is designed to be controlled by an Apple Remote or Windows Media remote as well as keyboard controls. At the moment it doesn’t seem like Hulu Desktop offers much of an advantage over the web based version.
If you want to try it, however, you will need a fairly new Mac or PC. The minimim requirements to run Hulu Desktop are as follows:
Minimum requirements for Mac:
Intel Pentium Core Duo 2.0GHz
At least 2.0 GB of RAM
Mac OS X v10.4 (Tiger) or later
2 Mbps Internet connection
Flash 9.0.124
Minimum requirements for Windows:
Intel Pentium Core Duo 1.8GHz
At least 2.0 GB of RAM
Windows XP or later
2 Mbps Internet connection
Flash 9.0.124
And if you have a PowerPC-based Mac, don’t even bother. There has been some speculation that this was the reason Hulu was so intent on shutting down Boxee’s access to Hulu feeds, but that seems odd since Hulu gets revenue from showing the ads, not from the software, so I would think the more programs that can play those ads would be better for them. Plus Boxee can run on PPC Macs, Apple TV, and Ubuntu Linux. No Windows version yet. You can read more about their response on their blog.
Discuss your thoughts in the forums!