Problem: Flash sucks.
Microsoft solution: create a proprietary standard that doesn't suck quite as much.
It will work great on XP and Vista. Oh, and Mac has made some serious inroads on our desktop, we'd better make it play nice for its users as well.
There. That takes care of everyone.
As an Ubuntu user, I have grown used to making my web browser and my OS of choice jump through a few hoops in order to access content that was never intended for me. It's part of the price you pay to remain Microsoft-free. One day, Microsoft-free will be irrelevant, sort of like NDOS-free.
Anyhow, while I was disappointed to be unable to watch Winter Olympic videos through my native browser, I figured that by now all would be well. After all, check out this glowing MS blogger report:Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Silverlight Moonlight 1.0 ships today
Novell has released version 1.0 of Moonlight for Linux. http://go-mono.com/moonlight/. Moonlight is an open source implementation of Microsoft Silverlight for Unix systems. Congrats on the release and look forward to the comments.
Hooray! I can watch Silverlight videos at last! And just in time for the NCAA Basketball Tournament!
Yes, another corporate entity has drunk the Kool-Aid and gone with MS's proprietary format to provide live internet videos.
Oh well, as I mentioned before, all is well now. Microsoft has chosen to support "Unix." Let's watch some videos!
Only...
I'm told I can't watch the videos in High Quality (HQ) (no doubt that term has been trademarked by someone).
But hey, they do mention a standard player, maybe there's hope. So, even though I've already installed Moonlight 1.01, I let the website direct me to an installer of its own. It installs the same player, then a screen pops up that says it is downloading codecs and such from Microsoft, beginning with an agreement.
Oh, BTW, I feel good about things because of this promise:
Don't Worry! We won't install a bunch of additional stuff on your computer or try to sign you up for unwanted email.
Kewl. Sounds like Microsoft has done a complete 180 on their business practices.
NOW, to watch the games!
Oops.
Unsupported platformYour current platform does not support the video plugins necessary to view NCAA® March Madness® on Demand.
You will need to switch to a supported platform in order to continue.
Standard Video Player Platform Requirements
* Microsoft Windows XP/Vista
* Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or above
* Microsoft Windows Media Player 9 or aboveHigh Quality Video Player Platform Requirements
* Microsoft Silverlight 2 (Click here to view system requirements)
But I just did what you said! I installed Moonlight, and, wait, what's up with that other window? It's stuck on downloading a license agreement!
Two restarts of Firefox later, and it finally begins budging. Let's see, I have to accept Microsoft's terms (chortle. Probably agreeing to uninstall Ubuntu and replace it with safe, secure, lightweight Vista). Now, comes the download. OK, refresh the web page to watch the videos.
Except...I'm greeted with a familiar message. The videos won't play on my unsupported platform.
You know what? I'm really not as much into the tournament as I used to be. I'm going to go find something else to do.
A big thanks to Microsoft, the NCAA, and the clueless corporate clods who continue to empower Microsoft to do things like build their own proprietary web-based media player that strangely doesn't work well on the Linux platform.
Comments (1)
“Oh well, as I mentioned before, all is well now. Microsoft has chosen to support "Unix." Let's watch some videos!”
Seriously? A browser plugin for Silverlight is Microsoft supporting “Unix”? Oh but I must ask what is “Unix”, there appears to be subjective terminology here. Perhaps Linux and Unix will be confounded as one?
Posted by The WHAM Burglar | March 15, 2010 7:23 PM
Posted on March 15, 2010 19:23