Microsoft: too greedy to get out of their own way.

So I just started up my Xbox 360 for the first time in 6 months to try out the new Metro UI and media features. First stop, the Netflix app. After downloading the app and starting it up, I get told I need an Xbox Live Gold account to use Netflix.

Now I have a free XBL Silver account which is free, but I don’t play enough multi-player games to justify $60/yr. for a Gold account. I do currently spend $8/mo. for Netflix streaming — now Microsoft wants me to pay for Gold access just to get at content I already pay for.

To be clear:
I paid for the Xbox 360.
I pay for Netflix.
I pay for my broadband connectivity.

So all I want is for Microsoft to let me use the app (that’s already on my Xbox) to use the things I’ve already paid for. For this they want $50 each and every year (subject to price increases).

Fail.

For the record you can buy a Roku as little as $50 (one-time purchase) and get more currently available apps.