MS Silverlight To Stream Obama Inauguration Events 589
Ilgaz writes in to let us know that we will have to install MS Silverlight 2 to watch the US President's inauguration online. Everyone running Mac PPC, Linux, and FreeBSD has been left out, as there are no working Silverlight 2-capable alternatives on these systems. Here is Microsoft's press release announcing the selection of Silverlight yesterday. Streaming of various events around the inauguration begins today at the Presidential Inaugural Committee site, which touts its "inclusive and accessible" coverage.
So much for a tech savvy Whitehouse. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:So much for a tech savvy Whitehouse. (Score:2, Insightful)
That certainly didn't take long to have the rhetoric fail and the reality take charge.
Oh, they're plenty tech savvy ... they're just not tech willing. Microsoft now owes the Obama Administration a favor.
Standards? (Score:1, Insightful)
Sweet so something that should be accessible to everyone is only available to people using some propriety piece of software. Why couldn't they just stream in MPEG? Flash would be better, but fails for the same reasons as Silverlight.
AND, it begins... (Score:1, Insightful)
So folks, now that the new Administration is showing itself to be like every other... How do you feel? Like the slut that nobody respects in the morning maybe?
Re:change we can believe in my b**** (Score:3, Insightful)
"All hail Pres Bush the 3rd"
That would have been McCain. Obama is Clinton the Second, to judge by his cabinet.
Re:So much for a tech savvy Whitehouse. (Score:5, Insightful)
From these events, it is obvious that the new administration either does not know about or does not care about the passion this community has for free ideals.
A very tiny community, compared to the overwhelming majority who a) don't give a toss about "free ideals" and b) have seen this story for the bullshit it is, in that only one website requires Silverlight to watch the inauguration, whereas YouTube and many others will be showing it in Flash video.
Re:Humm... (Score:5, Insightful)
Many of the people held there are simply too dangerous to let go. Many of the others who aren't have no where to go
The US Department of Defense operates many military prisons. They can all easily be transfered to a military prison within the US. They were only held offshore to avoid jurisdiction, and that point's been rendered moot.
Re:change we can believe in my b**** (Score:2, Insightful)
He's Bush the 3rd with Clinton's cabinet, talking like Clinton, acting like Bush
The AC is right, we're screwed either way
Re:WRONG! (Score:2, Insightful)
So you are forced to use Silverlight on that website, which is just wrong and is what the guy is complaining about.
Re:Humm... (Score:4, Insightful)
Most reasonable people would acknowledge that it's going to take awhile to close down Gitmo. Many of the people held there are simply too dangerous to let go. Many of the others who aren't have no where to go -- their home countries won't accept them. It should be obvious that you can't just close the facility down and give everybody there a bus ticket home. Obama has committed himself to ending torture and finding a safe way to closing down Gitmo. What more do you want?
Call me a woolly-minded old liberal, but they could always, y'know, try them, and either bang them up legitimately or let them go as appropriate.
Re:WRONG! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Stupid submitter (Score:4, Insightful)
Those running Windows 9x are out in the cold too.
Re:Humm... (Score:5, Insightful)
Isn't that sort of the point of closing gitmo? To try them in a court of law, as opposed to hold them illegally and indefinitely without trial?
Re:The story is crap, but (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:False, false false... (Score:4, Insightful)
It is Intel only. Lots of people , especially G5 home/business users excluding big time gamers didn't upgrade to Intel yet. Apple knows this fact very well as they still ship iLife/iWork 09 as Universal binary. Adobe Flash 10 for example is both universal binary and recently SMP enabled for PPC dual G4s etc.
Like the dotcom boom days, MS can air a "exclusive Madonna concert" via silverlight, to make it popular and make people install it but this event isn't a Madonna concert or a Hollywood trailer. They couldn't convince their own OS users yet.
Re:The story is crap, but (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Stupid submitter (Score:3, Insightful)
I did very well. Mac PPC means Macintosh PowerPC. You know, not everyone switched to Intel and MS left out PPC users on release of Silverlight 2.0 without any kind of explanation.
PPC on the desktop is a small market getting smaller by the day. Sorry, but thats the way it is.
Re:Humm... (Score:2, Insightful)
That's the plan Obama has. They have to be moved into the States, at which point they must legally be tried.
Re:The story is crap, but (Score:2, Insightful)
Its just a f'n shame that our leaders who espouse freedom, don't get it.
You mean like RMS? Who has yet to produce a suitable Flash or Silverlight replacement.
(removes tongue from cheek)
Re:The story is crap, but (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Lying or Insane or just SlashDot? (Score:1, Insightful)
I think you're confused. Unicasting is one stream per client. Multicasting is one shared stream. Multicasting is generally only available in local area networks, though, and not over the internet.
Re:Hulu? Youtube? (Score:5, Insightful)
May I respectfully suggest the damn TV? (Score:4, Insightful)
Moonlight (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:So much for a tech savvy Whitehouse. (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm sure that they meant open as in open access. Assuming that they meant open software is a bit of a stretch.
Oh! the injustice. Having to load a browser plug-in! You think Adobe would handle a monopoly in any market differently than Microsoft? You must not use their products, then.
If you are from the US and voted for Obama because you thought his platform was somehow anti-Microsoft, then, frankly, you're an idiot. This is it though...*this* is what lifted the veil and caused you to see the world for what it is. Silverlight. When there are lots of other options available, no less (maybe that's what they meant by "most open"?) Your trolling needs work.
Re:The story is crap, but (Score:2, Insightful)
But why is it any better to have Adobe (and Macromedia before that) dominate the market?
I'm personally hoping Silverlight matures on as many browsers and operating systems as possible AND that it and Flash and/or Flex continue to exist in competition. With luck, the competition will continue to drive each development team to improve their respective product.
Re:So much for a tech savvy Whitehouse. (Score:4, Insightful)
I am sure you have this backwards - Micro$oft probably made campaign contributions to Obama and Obama owed M$ the favor....
Anti-competitive my rear. (Score:3, Insightful)
Mod me down if you must, but what, pray tell, is anticompetitive about Silverlight? How does it block competition? If anything, it is anti-anti-competitive in that it forces Adobe to improve.
More important, and more pro-competition is that it forces the luddites at the W3C to get their act together and produce something useful for once. For too long W3C has been able to produce crap because they assumed that developers had no choice but use HTML and CSS. Having two plugins that run on the majority of target browsers breaks that "monopoly" the W3C holds on developers. We now have a choice to develop complex, in-the-browser interfaces using something other then their standards.
For too long the W3C has held a monopoly over web developers. Hopefully Silverlight will light a fire in their ass because if it doesn't, the web will be stuck in the stone-age for quite some time to come.
May I respectfully suggest you but out? (Score:0, Insightful)
I am an American. I live in Belgium. It will not be on TV. Even if it were, like a growing segment of the population I own a computer and not a TV. As an IT professional, this computer runs linux to make it easier to work from home.
I have as much right to watch the inauguration as you do, and there is absolutely no technical reason why I should not be able to.
Re:So much for a tech savvy Whitehouse. (Score:1, Insightful)
"The old washington is a thing of the past."
I guess he meant the old George Washington. I do wish he had clarified that.
Re:MOD PARENT UP (Score:3, Insightful)
Yeah, should be redundant.
You can watch in silverlight, or you can head over to youtube, or turn on your television. There are dozens of places to watch this thing. Article is misleading, parent is mislead.
Re:So much for a tech savvy Whitehouse. (Score:5, Insightful)
People who spell that company's name "Micro$oft" give me flashbacks to 1997. Firstly because they need to grow up, and secondly because they haven't moved on since then.
On the other hand ... neither has Microsoft.
Re:So much for a tech savvy Whitehouse. (Score:3, Insightful)
I am sure you have this backwards - Micro$oft probably made campaign contributions to Obama and Obama owed M$ the favor....
Wouldn't surprise me. Washington is a complicated, twisted place.
Re:The story is crap, but (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:So much for a tech savvy Whitehouse. (Score:3, Insightful)
Which is still not truly available to everyone. Where is that Flash plugin for my PPC system? Where is the non-patent-risk FLV codec for my PPC system? What do people who do not have an up to date computer do (yes, there are still a lot of them, and their computers can play an
You ridicule us for being a tiny community, but keep in mind that this tiny community of people who care about "free ideals" represents a substantial proportion of people who care about politics, substantially more than the proportion of people who use computers. Beyond that, there are a lot of people who want to maintain their own copy of these proceedings, who should not be legally barred from doing so by the use of streaming video websites whose TOS forbids non-streaming downloads. This is a historic proceeding, if a bit hyped, and there should be no copyright or patent issues when it comes to videos of the event.
Re:Okay (Score:2, Insightful)
Sigh. The entire point of this article is that Silverlight only runs on Windows. If they had chosen Flash then people on Mac/Linux/FreeBSD/whatever could watch it.
You should pay attention to the conversations you're in.
Re:Huh? What? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Or alternatively (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:MOD PARENT UP (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, the TV option is still available, but this team has not given it much attention. This team is setting a precedent in streaming the proceedings, and future presidents will follow this example. My biggest concern is that, over the next decade, the ability to record a TV program will only be available to those who pay for "DVR service," likely locked down to prevent users from keeping copies without paying, and that if that happens, and these proceedings are streamed by websites like YouTube, people will lose their ability to keep personal copies of government proceedings. Most people will just shrug, but for some activists, the ability to record the government is important and should not be lost because of misguided efforts to be "tech savvy."
Re:Anti-competitive my rear. (Score:4, Insightful)
It's anticompetitive because it doesn't run on Mac PPC, Linux and FreeBSD? RFTS.
Firstly, Apple don't support Mac PPC anymore, why the fuck should anybody else?
Secondly, Linux and FreeBSD account for less than a single percentage point of the desktop market. Even so, you have people working on it. [mono-project.com]
Thirdly and finally, you don't have to watch at the official site. There's probably a hundred places online you could watch it. If you don't want to use Silverlight - don't.
Re:So much for a tech savvy Whitehouse. (Score:2, Insightful)
To me 'contributions' should be made illegal. Explain to me how these are nothing more than an above-table bribe.
Re:Hulu? Youtube? (Score:3, Insightful)
No.
I think it's because it's an easy place to slam Microsoft.
Silverlight handled the Olympics which is an amazing feat. People who make decisions like to have previous successes to look at when choosing between similar options.
"You have two options
1) You can use a proprietary Adobe Flash based system which will work on 99% of all computers and used used by companies like Youtube.
or
2) you can use a proprietary Microsoft Silverlight based solution which will work on 98% of all computers. It was used in the US to stream all of the Olympics coverage live. Also it's been successfully used by Netflix to stream high quality footage to both Macs and PCs.
"Thanks...both look like good options but netflix is higher quality video than Youtube right?"
"Yes."
"Go with the netflix/olympics one then!"
Re:So much for a tech savvy Whitehouse. (Score:2, Insightful)
Sure, there are ways around most of it (VM, User Agents, Wine, etc.) but I shouldn't have to jump through hoops to see their product. There's plenty of other content on the internet.
Cross-Platform (Score:3, Insightful)
If you don't like it, write a letter. (Score:3, Insightful)
The bottom line is that the person who made the decision to use Silverlight was probably the same person who made that decision for the Democratic National Convention. Most likely, the guy/gal was hired because he/she had Microsoft Certs and experience. I know a lot of very smart people who could very well have been tabbed for the same thing that are Microsoft people, and they probably would have made the same decision because they don't think beyond "this is a cool technology and it makes it easier for me to do what I want".
If you think it's a money thing, you don't know crap. Microsoft gives to both the Democratic AND Republican party. I know a lot of very hardcore Republicans who work for them. Yes, I know, I know a lot of people that I'm painting in a really bad light here. Apple, however, gave a lot as well. So did Google. And they tend to support Democratic and Independent causes more often than Republican.
Look, one thing you have to know is if Barack Obama had a whole lot less on his plate...after all, the economy is going down the tubes, followed by the environment, we've got wars that we're fighting and we don't really know why we're still fighting them...costly occupations...our schools are going to pot and good jobs are getting really, really scarce. If that stuff wasn't all on his plate, and he knew that Apple and Linux people wouldn't be able to stream the inauguration, he'd be upset and ask to talk to whoever made that call. As it is, it was probably some guy that was hired that was probably held over from the DNC stuff. Maybe it was one of his paid staffers.
Write a letter. Get your feelings out there and make it known. Don't just whine silently to yourself. If they get word, then some staffer might get a talking to. Really now...if you wanted this to be streamed using more open/cross platform technology, you should have started complaining about it when their tech team would have had some time to offer an alternative.
Re:Anti-competitive my rear. (Score:4, Insightful)
90% of the remaining 20% will not watch any of it over the Internet (Perhaps TV!!).
90% of the remaining 10% of 20% will watch a stream from a major media outlet (CNN, CSPAN, MSNBC, FOX, ABC, CBS...)
99.9% of the remaining 10% of 10% of 20% will be using Windows or OSX (Intel-Mac)
The President elect would like to extend his heart felt apologies to Chuck in Ohio.
Kids these days... (Score:4, Insightful)
Look, you choose to use an operating system built by essentially hobbyists in their spare time. Not everything is gonna work--that is a feature not a bug. And while I hate to say it, if you dont like that, perhaps you could dedicate some of your time to Moonlight so that you *can* use Silverlight stuff. Don't expect people to use their non-free time to develop software for a free operating system.
And yes, I do contribute to the free operating system I use in production environments--FreeBSD. I've contributed many ports to build and install CPAN modules. If something isn't in the ports tree and I need it, I don't just expect somebody else to put it there nor do I bitch, moan or cry--I take the time out of my day and write the damn port myself. That is how open source works--you give back to it and everybody benefits. If I didn't give back, I'd be a leech. That is also one of the biggest flaws in open source, you have to have the skills *to* give back, and not everybody does.
Silverlight exists, it is an amazing platform, and soon enough it will become widely adopted. Accept it as fact, and either either get used to being left out or get started working on Moonlight or something like it. Calling me a "Microsoft fanboy douche" will not result in the open source faeries giving you Silverlight support. You have to make it work!
Getting shit to work is what Linux is all about (or at least was all about). Back in the day, your only reward was the pride you got by getting $IMPOSSIBLE_DEVICE to work on Linux! Now I guess Linux is all about the politics of getting something for nothing. Sad. ...Now get the hell off my lawn!
Re:So much for a tech savvy Whitehouse. (Score:3, Insightful)
I mean, sure, the ceremony is important, we once again have a peaceful change in power, and I wish the new president well. He's going to need all the luck he can get.
But, really...I'd think catching a few hightlights on the evening news would be enough if your really interested in watching this at all.
Re:Kids these days... (Score:2, Insightful)
Linux is no longer an OS where you have to fiddle with things endlessly to have them work. It has been adopted and is maintained by huge, huge companies, some bigger than Microsoft.
Why are you preaching about Open Source when you're clearly a Microsoft shill? To any one with half a brain, Silverlight's mission is simple: Get all the media running on Sliverlight and then drop support everywhere but Windows. It's a classic Microsoft strategy. It's what they do, it's probably in the corporate bylaws.
No one asked for, nor needs, Silverlight. Open Source doesn't mean "reverse engineered version of a propprietary app."
I call you a Microsoft fanboy douche because that's what you are.
Obama Creative Commons (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:So much for a tech savvy Whitehouse. (Score:2, Insightful)
I think some people may need to get their priorities straight. The United States is facing some incredible challenges right now. The economy is failing. We are fighting two major wars in the Middle East. The federal debt is 10 trillion dollars (about $40,000 per person). We've got a prison full of detainees in Guantanamo to figure out what to do with. And our entire economy is based around petroleum, which we seem to be running out of. I want Obama and his team to dedicate 100% of his time to figuring out those problems, and until they're under control I couldn't possibly care less what kind of technology is being used to stream his events.
Re:The story is crap, but (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:The story is crap, but (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Okay (Score:3, Insightful)
You really don't get it. This is the introduction to their term of office, it should be seen to be unbiased, putting a link on that page to a commercial web site immediately implies a preference by the administration for the product they are now directly advertising and promoting. It has very little to do with M$ and everything to do with demonstrating political maturity and independence, especially right at the very beginning of their term of office.
'Seen to be clean' should be a priority especially after the shameless and very public corporate biases of the previous administration. So quite simply as many formats for viewing as will clearly demonstrate no biases and this could quite simply be done by making the content available the most popular methods, rather than locking it down to one not very popular method that specifically excludes the use of competing products.
Re:So much for a tech savvy Whitehouse. (Score:4, Insightful)
Ah, but your sound of reason will fall on flat ears with the Slashdot crowd. After all what is more important than having technology [fill in blank] being accessible?
I was reading in OSNews an article that talked about accessibility and one poster said the following (paraphrasing)
Is it really that bad that only certain operating systems are followed? For if you try to be completely open you will annoy somebody. After all what is to say that somebody using Haiku or some other esoteric operating system?
The point is that you are going to annoy somebody... At least the Obama camp knows that there is an Internet! And that it is not made of tubes....
Re:So much for a tech savvy Whitehouse. (Score:3, Insightful)
The point is that you are going to annoy somebody... At least the Obama camp knows that there is an Internet! And that it is not made of tubes....
Stop making excuses for him. His team picked the wrong choice this time, plain and simple, and it's the job of those who know better to point it out. They could have streamed in multiple formats or done any number of things to make it more accessible, but they screwed up and went the MS-only route.