What's the problem really? I just installed Silverlight instead on whining about it.
Because I actually care about what stuff companies try to install on my computer.
“You’re one simple step from…” Don’t sweat it Silverlight, I was just leaving
11–20 of 34 posts
Re: “You’re one simple step from…” Don’t sweat it Silverlight, I was just leaving
#12You are not NBC's customer; Microsoft is. I am sure that Microsoft paid a lot of money for this, and it was money well spent.
This is a trend that's only going to continue. I wouldn't be surprised to see Microsoft sponsor another major video website like Hulu to get Silverlight installed on more computers. I think in a few years Adobe may have to resort to paying to get the Flash plugin installed.
Re: “You’re one simple step from…” Don’t sweat it Silverlight, I was just leaving
#13What's the problem really? I just installed Silverlight instead on whining about it.
Because I actually care about what stuff companies try to install on my computer.
And you have FLASH installed?
But seriously, me too. And I know EXACTLY what Silverlight is and I am OK to have it installed on my computer. Lightweight, fast, not very useful but... in this case it has an use: me watching the damn Olympic vids.
Re: “You’re one simple step from…” Don’t sweat it Silverlight, I was just leaving
#14Another geek complaining about non-standard plug-ins. I really wish HN had categories so I could filter out repetitive rants.
If the author didn't install Silverlight and watched the video he wanted, that is pure ideology borderline religion and I can't feel any sympathy for him.
Sorry but I'm not a militant ideologist. I'm all about pragmatism and net value. If I have to install a non-intrusive plugin in order to watch a video, so be it.
Re: “You’re one simple step from…” Don’t sweat it Silverlight, I was just leaving
#15What's the problem really? I just installed Silverlight instead on whining about it.
Because I actually care about what stuff companies try to install on my computer.
From the post:
The moral of this story is never make your users jump through hoops to view your content, try your product, or use your services.
I can understand having moral objections to yet another proprietary web technology but I think your argument falls apart when you feign indignation about having to push "install plugin" and wait 4 seconds. As far as technical hoops go, that's pretty lame.
Re: “You’re one simple step from…” Don’t sweat it Silverlight, I was just leaving
#16The Olympics should be as open as possible. There has to be some sort of monetary deal between Microsoft and NBC. This really could have been a great time to push HTML5.
Isn't there already a big tie in the form of MSNBC? Or has that been dissolved?
NBC purchansed a majority stake in MSNBC, but Microsoft still owns 18%.
Re: “You’re one simple step from…” Don’t sweat it Silverlight, I was just leaving
#17The Olympics should be as open as possible. There has to be some sort of monetary deal between Microsoft and NBC. This really could have been a great time to push HTML5.
The Olympics is one big commercial venture, and has been for some time: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/markets/article-23807728-why-p... Not to say that it /shouldn't/ be as open as possible, just that it isn't.
If there's any doubt about the deeply ingrained commercial nature of the games, there's this hilarious blog post from uvex:
http://www.uvexsports.com/2010/02/blonde-we-like-wins-downhi...
Re: “You’re one simple step from…” Don’t sweat it Silverlight, I was just leaving
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because I actually care about what stuff companies try to install on my computer.
And you have FLASH installed? But seriously, me too. And I know EXACTLY what Silverlight is and I am OK to have it installed on my computer. Lightweight, fast, not very useful but... in this case it has an use: me watching the damn Olympic vids.
Yes, I have flash installed, but very grudgingly and only because I also have flashblock installed on firefox and chrome. It pisses me off every time I need to unblock it and it really pisses me off after I unblock it and find it was an unnecessary waste of time to watch the "flashy" animation that added no value to the web page.
(/me gets off soapbox, wipes the spittle off face)
Re: “You’re one simple step from…” Don’t sweat it Silverlight, I was just leaving
#19I saw the same message when attempting to view a video on NBC's Olympics site. After grudgingly installing Silverlight I was still unable to watch anything. The videos require Silverlight 2 or 3, neither of which is supported on a PowerPC mac.
I don't understand why they are trying to push 2 proprietary formats on us. You think they would at least try to stick with just one if they weren't going to go with HTML5.
Well the motivations for MS and Adobe are obvious.
MS definitely (not sure about Adobe) chooses high profile video intensive sites to "partner with" to show-case their platform.
In short, it's business.
Re: “You’re one simple step from…” Don’t sweat it Silverlight, I was just leaving
#20"The moral of this story is never make your users jump through hoops to view your content, try your product, or use your services."
The author completely contradicts himself. He's arguing not to use things that need to be installed, yet saying they should have used Flash, which is something you install. Flash is on 98% of computers (his figure) because those people installed it. At some point, they had to jump through a hoop. I haven't need to jump through hoops to view Olympics videos because I already installed Silverlight.