Walmart's new movie download service is trying to [turn back the clock to 1996][1]. The new service not only is Windows exclusive (get your DRM for free!) but the site requires Internet Explorer. We culled together a list of [the worst offenders of the IE-only disease][2] a while back and we've added Walmart to the list.

But Walmart's new download service isn't just limited, crippled, DRM-laden, expensive and doomed, it has something I haven't seen in ages -- the dreaded spacer.gif. And I'm not talking about the site layout itself, which I can't get to because I don't have IE, I'm talking about the error page. 

Yes just to show me a page telling me I can't use the browser of my choice, the intrepid programmers in the Walmart code sweatshop had to resort to the spacer gif.

I predict Walmart's movie download service will fold by the end of summer. Good riddance.

[1]: http://mediadownloads.walmart.com/mmce/jsp/ieonly.jsp "Party Like it's 1996"
[2]: http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2006/10/this_page_requi.html "This Page Requires Internet Explorer: Worst Offenders?"