This reminds me of Yahoo's support for Intel Macs for their streaming college sports: Use BootCamp and install Windows.

I'm not having anything to do with the Olympics this year in any way. I'm not watching it on TV, reading about it in the news, nothing.

China's record on human rights is appalling. Even worse than ours because of Gitmo and the so called "Patriot Act". The way they acted in Tibet is nothing short of barbarous and they need to be boycotted in every way possible.

If NBC wants to associate themselves with a government like China, then that's all the more reason I will avoid NBC products and services as much as I possibly can.

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Guest wrote:
I'm not having anything to do with the Olympics this year in any way. I'm not watching it on TV, reading about it in the news, nothing.

I agree 100%. The Olympics are about 1-nationalistic chest thumping, 2-corporate sponsorship, and 3-TV ratings. The actual sports are farther down the list somewhere making the athletes just hired performers. While this farce is going on, and the west is distracted, it's no coincidence that Russia is rolling the tanks through the Republic of Georgia.

As far as NBC; screw 'em. For them to force people to use Silverlight, a technology from the other bear in the room; Microsoft, is absurd. Strong arm tactics are the only way M$ is getting anyone to adopt Silverlight. But that won't work on me. I'm happy to say my PowerBook is M$ free and my next Macbook will be also.

Come on - it's not that hard. I did it last night - download was fast and installation fast. I didn't even have to restart Safari.

If you want to talk about the wisdom of using Silverlight when there are already proven solutions available, then I would probably agree with you.

cbc.ca live streaming of the games, works on macs

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lyonsden wrote:
Come on - it's not that hard. I did it last night - download was fast and installation fast. I didn't even have to restart Safari

No it isn't hard. That isn't the point. I just don't like M$ and their tactics. I don't like NBC not giving people options. The internet is all about options. I would even be less critical if they required Silverlight for higher resolution streaming but allowed RealMedia and Quicktime for everyone else. No, they require Silverlight, no options, no choices.

I honestly don't get the complaining. A few years ago Macs wouldn't have been supported at all. I installed Silverlight in a matter of minutes and I have to say that the quality is quite good.

Heck, if NBC partnered with Apple and required Windows users to install Quicktime we'd all be jumping up and down for joy.

Sometimes I think us Mac users enjoy being the red-headed stepchild. We need to get over it.

That Mac or PC that you're using to rant against China was made there.

We in the West said capitalism is the way to go and we assumed that with capitalism will come a middle class that wants democracy. But the Chinese middle classes seem content with authoritarian capitalism.

oh and it's not just Macs, my NBC affiliate wants to charge my cable company for the hi-def signal.

It's not all that easy. And more than Silverlight is required. Go and try to download videos from previous events. Here's the page you get...

http://www.nbc.com/olympicsonthego/drm_check.shtml

From NBC.com, click the 2008 Olympics image. At the download page, try and download any of the videos and it requires XP SP2 or Vista. So, we can't make use of all the offerings.

Thanks for the link to the Canadian site - I'll give that a try. Nothing for NBC or MSNBC for me...

Pathetic!!!

Silverlight is nothing more, nothing less, than Microsoft's direct competition to Adobe's Flash. Apple isn't exactly on the high road here; Apple has refused support for flash on the iphone for no viable technical reason. I read a rumor that Apple is preparing a competitor for Flash; if that's true, then Apple holding its own kids (iPhone and iPod Touch) hostage because they can, until it is ready.

All this BS about rich user interfaces and high-resolution is bogus. The current internet isn't up to delivering H264 across the board. Lack of servers, lack of pipes, lack of upkeep, yak, yak, yak. It's always something. Apple can't even get mail to synchronize.

This is probably really about how to get centralized licensing control in a modular form to enable content owners to stay abreast of the hackers. Nothing wrong with that - stealing content is wrong. I got no sympathy.

But why can't they all just come out and say it? Hope! Consumers adopt something and invest in it because we HOPE it will be stable. If they remove the hope, they remove the investment. So they're playing a very dangerous game. Be a good pusher and you got junkies for life. Go to far, too fast, and then Atlas (that's us) will shrug. Look what happened to Vista.

OK, so the old free ride is over. Someone will invent the next free ride, then it will get locked down. Then the next one, and the next. The only thing we CAN count on is that there will be a next free ride... Until there are no coding tools left to use because the US grants patents on IDEAS instead of PRODUCTS.

Sorry NBC, but forcing us to use that MS silver garbage, I'd rather not watch any of it. Why can't they use a standard like Quicktime like everyone else, so everyone can enjoy it.

nbc/universal is microsoft's bitch. always has been, always will be. why else do you think they dropped itunes.. while getting in bed with xbox live? the corporate ties began with the creation of msnbc, and now there's even joint ownership.

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jbruni wrote:
This reminds me of Yahoo's support for Intel Macs for their streaming college sports: Use BootCamp and install Windows.

Nope. I won't give in.

Isn't Apple using an open sorce option now can't think of the name.

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Guest wrote:
It's not all that easy. And more than Silverlight is required. Go and try to download videos from previous events. Here's the page you get...

http://www.nbc.com/olympicsonthego/drm_check.shtml

From NBC.com, click the 2008 Olympics image....
Pathetic!!!

Try http://www.nbcolympics.com/ fool

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iJack wrote:

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Guest wrote:
It's not all that easy. And more than Silverlight is required. Go and try to download videos from previous events. Here's the page you get...

http://www.nbc.com/olympicsonthego/drm_check.shtml

From NBC.com, click the 2008 Olympics image....
Pathetic!!!

Try http://www.nbcolympics.com/ fool

Just how is that different? It still requires Silverlight and an Intel Mac to get the videos.

QuickTime ?? How is that any better? Just because apple makes it? I don't have quicktime why should i install Apples crap on by computer.

It's very easy to make the argument the other way as well. They chose Silverlight, live with it. The truth is that whatever they chose somebody would be "forced" to install something from a company they may not like... so what. U dont't like don't use.

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Anonymous wrote:
QuickTime ?? How is that any better? Just because apple makes it? I don't have quicktime why should i install Apples crap on by computer.

It's very easy to make the argument the other way as well. They chose Silverlight, live with it. The truth is that whatever they chose somebody would be "forced" to install something from a company they may not like... so what. U dont't like don't use.

You don't get it, apparently, perhaps because you can't be bothered to actually read the article and comments. Silverlight WILL NOT RUN on PowerPC Macs. Get that? It means that many, perhaps most, Mac users will NOT be able to view the videos. In contrast, QuickTime will run on almost any computer.

Thus, it's not a matter of, "U dont't like don't use" (no need for texting abbreviations here), but, "You CANNOT use." BIG difference.

The Intel Mac experience isn't any different than the PC experience. PC users have to install the Silverlight plug-in as well, and yes the PC Silverlight plug-in is also in Beta. Honestly I recommend just installing it. I've had it installed on my PC (emphasis on PC I haven't tried it on a Mac) for months now, and I haven't had a single problem. Silverlight may be in Beta, but it's already better than a lot of the released software out there. One more note, it turns out that computers are tools, nothing more nothing less. Microsoft has created a great piece of software that will allow other developers to create rich internet applications that will run on the Macintosh. Mac users have complained about the lack of applications available to their computers in the past, and now MS has enabled developers to provide a wide range of software for the Mac. I find this religious hatred of Microsoft to be just a bit immature. If they provided a piece of software for you that enables your Mac to do more for you, then I think you should take it. Just like how I'm more than happy to installs Apple's software on my PC if it helps me to accomplish my goals.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=883142&page=3

Us crazy linux folk already have this all figured out. You don't get the silverlight streams (yet), but if you can install a player for windoze media (go get flip4mac), you can watch the lower def video.

There's a nice fancy script on that page, and some hints on how to grab the video. If the script doesn't work for you, try using User Agent Switcher in Firefox to pretend you're IE6 on Windows, go to the appropriate video page (which will load but not play), then look at the "asset ID" in the url and paste it into the appropriate place in the asset URL (look at the top of page 7 of that thread for the form). Then wget or curl that URL and copy out the WMV url, and Bob is now the name of your uncle.

It happens to be a PowerPC Mac so I absolutely can't. As I result I am unhappy with MS and NBC.

Thanks, I will remember this.

I am extremely irritated that Mac Users with PowerMacs can't see any of the videos. It's rude and horrible.

in fact, it works the nuts. It is really impressive. If MS does something right, can't we admit it?

And avoiding TV is great. No inane commentary, no USA-centric crap, no endless gymnastics and swimming. And no ad interruptions for obsolete SUVs.