NBC’s online coverage of The 2008 Summer Olympics from Beijing, China relies on Microsoft’s Silverlight 2.0b2 which is an Adobe Flash competitor (and a beta, no less!) that also happens to exclude millions of PowerPC-based Apple Mac users:
Contact:
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Paul” for the heads up.]
“Hey, let’s exclude a major portion of the Mac user base since they’re better educated and make more money than the Windows schlubs, to whom, of course, we’ll cater like the whores that we are — our advertisers will love it!”
Whoever’s making the technical (and business decisions) over at NBC is obviously an idiot.
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“intelligent human beings whom make their own decisions after weighing the facts.”
An intelligent human being would have known that Apple, as they had done so frequently in their history would sooner or later change the processor or operating system and make their hardware obsolete. They have been expecting this and have already brought Intel Macs.
It’s just the ignorant customers who don’t understand how Apple does business who would be upset.
@Kirk
Yes, it is specific to the version. They require 2.0b2 but only 1.0 is compatible with PowerPC Macs. I happen to have one and was sorta disappointed. Got mine the August before the Macworld where they announced the switch to Intel and as I’m still paying back student loans, upgrading right now is not in the cards. But by the time I can upgrade, the Macbook Pro will be that much better than they are now =)
@ OpJ
“The Mac users without Intel Macs are cheap, lazy, welfare recipients, students, or bums who bought on craigslist the PowerPC macs the better educated, wealthier Mac owners got rid of when they got their Intel Macs.”
So what if I am a welfare recipient? Why would that make one cheap, lazy, a student, or a bum on Craigslist? LOL…
“(Only slightly in jest…sorry folks, except for a few of the highest-end dual G5 PowerMacs the PowerPC-based Macintosh is a relic. I have my share–an iBook, a Powerbook G4, a G5 tower, a MDD G4, and what they make is good iTunes servers–the towers–and good carry along laptops when all I’m doing is word processing–the iBook and Powerbook.)”
I have 13 computers in my house 2 Window’s boxes and 11 Macs (1 G5 Power Mac, 9 G4 eMacs, and 1 G3 iMac). Silverlight is supported on 10 of my 11 Macs. So why did NBC choose not to support all of Silverlight’s users?
PS…I don’t let my PC’s on the internet…
On an Intel machine, Silverlight 2 works fine. However, Safari 3.1.2 only shows a partial video screen (bottom is cut-off). Works with no problem using Firefox 3 in small or full screen mode (full screen is HD and enlarged, but not to “full screen” proportions.
A dumber demographic means you will convert a higher percentage of viewers with stupid ads. Excluding intelligent (and handsome) Mac users makes good business sense!
Remember, it’s ALL about the numbers you want to measure, not why you measure them.
I bit my tongue and installed the darn software because I wanted to see some coverage I missed. Low and behold after Silverlight was installed, the only thing that played was commercials. I kept getting some “This error has been reported to our team” error and the video never loaded. Just infuriating – that is exactly why I do not buy or use Microsoft products any more.
I know nothing about Silverlight and care nothing about the Olympics…I turn on the TV and there’s as much Olympics as I’d ever be interested in seeing…
That said, there are going to be a lot of complaints present and future about PowerPC support ending. I think what a lot of people…I guess pretty much all the PowerPC-clingers–forget is that the gap in computational power between PowerPC and modern Intel processors is staggering. I think the best example is that the 1.6 Ghz Mac mini I have–the least powerful Intel Mac other than the Air and the core solo mini–has a higher Geekbench score than all but two G5 Power Mac towers, and one of those is the G5 Quad. Meanwhile, my G5 tower, bought less than a year and half before the mini, and for more than double the price, has less than half the score of the Intel mini.
Unfortunately for buyers of late-model PowerPC macs, particularly consumer-grade ones, the stark differences in processor power make the time and effort required to make everything back-compatible with G4 and G5 processors may not be worthwhile. Who knows, Apple might include G5 support in Snow Leopard. But it is just as likely that Apple has found that performance of some of the things they want to do is so degraded on G5 machines that all G5 support would get is complaints from G5 owners.
It is just as likely that Apple is making a lot of changes to the base underpinnings of OS X that take advantage of features included in Intel processors that don’t exist in the G5, or that again would be unacceptably slow on a G5.
Take a look at:
http://www.primatelabs.ca/blog/2008/02/mac-performance-february-2008/
The disparity between PowerPC and Intel macs is pretty obvious, with even the slowest original Macbook blowing past all but the G5 quad.
I will never in my life install Silverlight on my computer. I see no reason to prop up this useless format. Flash is bad enough. No thanks.
NBC and their Olympic “coverage” is a freaking JOKE!
There is no ‘AAPLNBC’. Just an ‘MSNBC’.
Watch it all here: http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/ondemand/
It’s Adobe Flash video. Looks good too.
And just because it’s the CBC don’t go thinking that it’s all Canada and the time. They show the best in every sport.
“Hey, let’s exclude a major portion of the Mac user base since they’re better educated and make more money than the Windows schlubs, to whom, of course, we’ll cater like the whores that we are — our advertisers will love it!”
You do have a way with words, MDN!
Silverlight excludes Mac users?
That’s funny, because I have Silverlight on my Mac. I just Googled “Silverlight for Mac” and here’s one of the hits I got:
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Microsoft_Silverlight_for_Mac_OS_X/1165253904/2
Hey, I’m not really a Microsoft fan, but Silverlight seems to work fine.
DeltaNick
THE NERVE!
I know at least 10 VERY SMART and VERY RICH people running OS9!
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Actually, all you really need is Flash! I was watching this morning at work. So quit your whinning. Silverlight is only necessary for the “enhanced experience”.
Upgrade to a MacBook, problem solved.
Thanks for posting that link, cptnkirk :o)
I missed the opening ceremonies and went to the NBC site, only to be disappointed. I said “I have the latest Flash player, what is the problem?” I should have known it was Microsoft’s crappy Silverlight plug-in.
Compared with the mid- to late-1990s, this is a step forward (only *some* Macs are excluded).
I think the MND title of this is misleading… It DOES offer support for Mac users just PPC users are left out. Most people will just read the title and assume No Mac support.
I have a Mac Pro and a Macbook, both are Intel, and I can’t even get Silverlight to download on either of them. I get the screen that says it’s checking my system for compatibility and that’s it. It just hangs on that screen.
As a happy PowerPC Macintosh user, I can tell you that I have not had any opportunity to miss the absence of this feature or the olympics. Plus the fact that NBC, USA, Telemundo, and CNBC are covering the olympics. I’m not exactly running out of options.
Everyone is so busy having fits over the lack of silverlight support on PPC macs… did anyone else think, “Gee, this was a perfect opportunity for Microsoft to roll out this turd to the masses, just so in a month they can tout what a widely installed media format it is?!”
Meanwhile, over at CNBC…
http://blogs.computerworld.com/why_cnbc_chose_apple_for_its_primary_storage
yes, let’s force all the zombies to download silverlight. And they do. Great. A free and open internet is too good for these people. Bring it on MS.
MW: gone….
What’s an Olympics?