“It was probably a painful decision for Redmond to admit defeat, but [MSNBC.com videos were] losing eyeballs and ad revenue on a daily basis. If you wanted to watch video on MSNBC.com’s site, you had to be using Internet Explorer on a PC. But as the Macintosh user base grew (thanks to the iPod) and more and more people started using the FireFox web browser, Microsoft saw their audience start to shrink. Microsoft had to finally face the fact that they needed a cross-platform video player that worked with other web browsers,” “methodshop” reported recently for coolest-gadgets.com.
“Charlie Tillinghast, president and publisher of MSNBC.com, had this to say in a company email ‘We have been pushing for a player that works on Mac and Firefox for a long time and are eager to see it launch… Some people assume that Microsoft, and by extension MSNBC, are anti-Mac, but it should be noted that Microsoft makes an outstanding version of Office for the Mac, including the Entourage email system. I purchased a new iMac in anticipation of this release and we have several in use at MSNBC itself,'” methodshop reported.
Full article here.
Related articles:
Apple’s QuickTime-based iTunes shows massive growth, to pass RealPlayer soon – March 16, 2006
MS-less MSNBC: NBC acquires majority control of MSNBC from Microsoft – December 23, 2005
Microsoft is going to be seeing more than just their audiences shrinking…
Network news linked to Redmond…. I’d be suspicious.
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Just remember that MS only owns 18% of MSNBC now. NBC bought most of it back from MS in 2005.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Msnbc
“…but it should be noted that Microsoft makes an outstanding version of Office for the Mac”
Unless and until Apple makes a direct competitor, then they’ll pull their product and support for it.
I thought I remembered reading awhile back that MS and NBC are planning to break ties altogether in the next year or so, and that there was talk of MSNBC changing it’s name when that happens. Sound familiar to anyone else?
Yea, I had heard that story about MSNBC too but you know how the rumors are spread on the internet, especially these type of web sites. Haven’t heard any more on it and it’s been awhile. Except what I read here.
Yahoo! is also a sucky site as well when it comes to macs, if not worse.
To the author – no,it’s not just you.
Peace.
The bigger question is why have they not used QuickTime from the beginning or why MS stopped writing Media Player for the Mac.
If either of those had been done, then they would have had a “…player that works on the Mac…”
ndelc, NBC and MS did break ties on the MSNBC cable television channel; NBC wholly owns it now, and there has been talk of renaming it. But they continued their joint ownership of the MSNBC.com web site, to which this article refers.
loki capret: Microsoft is going to be seeing more than just their audiences shrinking…
yea, their ding-a-ling is shrinking too. too many steroids in the formative years…
the new cnbc.com is npe indpendent of Microsoft
Outstanding? More like Outdated. He’s just excited he can get an iMac now. Who can blame him?
Charlie Tillinghast, president and publisher of MSNBC.com said: “but it should be noted that Microsoft makes an outstanding version of Office for the Mac, including the Entourage email system.”
That too will change sooner rather than later: iWork will include spreadsheet and more word processor functionality. And the Mac in “big boy clothes” powered by iApps will be the norm. “The times, they are a changing.”
Rock on Steve!
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One more thing®
Once iWork is updated with more word processing power and a spreadsheet, expect Mafiasoft to drop support of Mac Orifice Suite.
Rock on Steve!
MDN Magic Word: “boy”. A little late MDN.
Informercial asks: “The bigger question is why have they not used QuickTime from the beginning or why MS stopped writing Media Player for the Mac.
Well, quicktime has to be downloaded and installed on PC’s.
As for why Microsoft stopped writing WMP for the mac, I believe it crossed that rareified threshold of “Too sucky for even am MS drone” and Flip4Mac came in and utterly spanked their asses with their Quicktime plugin.
None of which had ANYTHING to do with the MSNBC video, which was dependent on some crummy third party shite.
As much as I hate M$I am a loyal Notre Dame fan and the content on the site is good regarding Notre Dame football. It was sad I couldn’t view any of the videos. I wrote countless emails flaming them. Now I am happy just to view some of the content. Now if we can get Yahoo to get there thumb out of there ass to support the Mac better that would be great.
I have it on very good authority that Microsoft’s gonads are already shrinking. Keep your eyes peeled for news of the upcoming Microsoft sex change operation!
BUY APPLE. SHORT MS!
Just this morn, I noted on MSNBC-
“MSNBC & APPLE ITUNES”.
Now, I want to see Macbook Pros when I watch CNN & MSNBC. (Instead of DELL.
Faux “news”, you stick with Micro Slop.
Mac and ND Fan –
So sorry to see ND get whipped again, even on NBC.
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GO BLUE!
We’re not racist, but…
We’re not sexist, but….
We’re not anti Mac, but…
Short MSFT? LOL. Idiot investors.
the videos work. hip hip hoorah!
This has nothing to do with Macs and increased market share.
The Flash player is simple more customizable and more flexible, that’s all. It’s also pervasive.
QuickTime would be even better as it is cross platform and performs better, but Flash certainly beats the old MS only solution.
This probably doesn’t make a lot of difference in the larger world, but overall it makes me happy that we’ll be able to see more of Keith Olbermann in more Mac-friendly video formats!
Good night, and good luck!
I noticed this change a few weeks ago.
CNBC.com launched their new web site today, and it seems to be Mac-friendly.
I notice in the comments there’s a problem with Mac support on Yahoo. Does that affect Yahoo Mail as well? I think I’m going to be switching soon and my main email account is with Yahoo now.
As an aside, I’d like to see CNN support Firefox, too, instead of requiring Internet Explorer to view its videos.
Now that’s what I’m takin about…
Growing Apple = Shrinking MS. Guess that’s the way its gotta be.
While we’re on the iWork (♥) / Office discussion, if[when] Apple releases a direct competitor to Office, I would think they would make it compatible much like they do now; you can export/import .doc files out of/ into Pages. Would they still be able to do that? It would give peace of mind to on the fence Office to iWork switchers in the [hopefully near] future.
I don’t know if I buy the explanation, but I accept the result.
I’m pretty sure the reason for this was that YouTube would see many hundreds of thousands of links and viewings to Keith Olbermann’s excellent “Special Comments.”
And MSNBC would only see a couple thousand viewings from their host site.
So, when in doubt, copy the competition (M$’s mantra).
When I have gone to their site and ANY OTHER such as VH1 or anyone who has content that only plays on a PC. I e-mail them and remind them saying:
“Please note there are cross platform media options and if you don’t start using them and instead insist on keep your heads up M$’s ass, then the growing population of Mac users will turn to other sites for news or info. After all there are MANY sites out there besides yours, and they are just one click away.”
I suggest we ALL do that. And get this ball rolling!
MDN magic word: HEAR as in let ’em hear us!
So Office is clunky, I don’t care because you can get a single or family license cheaply enough, and besides, there are alternatives. I’d rather see Apple come up with alternatives to Adobe products.
Islandgirl:
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No yahoo mail works fine on a Mac, think they are refering to the video on yahoo… somethng i have no clue about
So go on and switch you know it makes sense…
MSNBC? Which last year claimed the iPod was toast.
Yeah, they’re not anti-Mac. They’re anti-Apple! 😀
Just kidding. Good for them!
Interoperability is a very long word. Can you spell IT?
“…but it should be noted that Microsoft makes an outstanding version of Office for the Mac”
Unless and until Apple makes a direct competitor, then they’ll pull their product and support for it.
Cpt. Obvious:
This only begs the question “What is the purpose of Microsoft?” if its only intention is to release inferior products and eventually give ground to competitors.
Never could understand why NBC wanted to hop into bed with Micricrap —- their baby MSNBC was a retared idiot that no one wants!
Mac7
Two years ago I would have agreed with you wholeheartedly. At the time, MSNBC was trying to out-fox Fox “News.”
Since the arrival of Keith Olbermann, MSNBC is the only mainstream news outlet that isn’t a complete sell-out to GOP-talkingpoints-regurgitation that has become the corporate news media.
MSNBC videos still won’t play with Firefox. But for a new window that appears with Beta at the top, nothing happens.