Topic: NBC Olympics on the Go download service is Vista only

[toasty0]

NBC announced two significant technology partnerships with Microsoft and Wavexpress today to provide 2008 Olympics coverage over the web. The new initiatives embody a natural evolution for Olympics coverage considering the times—but they're available only to users of Vista or Silverlight.

Powered by Wavexpress' TVTonic Internet video service and client, NBC Olympics on the Go will allow owners of Media-Center-capable Windows Vista PCs (that's Home Premium and Ultimate) to download "up-to-HD" coverage on a sport-by-sport basis. Users can chose from a number of channels in Wavexpress' TVTonic client that NBC's coverage of the Beijing Games will be categorized into, and the NBC Olympics on the Go client will be able to access event coverage roughly 12 hours after an event ends. Ars Technica confirmed with Wavexpress that users will not be able to keep downloaded coverage indefinitely, though videos will remain playable at least for the duration of the games.

In addition to going Vista-only for this downloadable Olympics coverage, NBC will be cross-promoting the MSN brand on NBCOlympics.com and featuring Olympics coverage prominently on MSN.com. As Bill Gates announced at CES back in January, all video at the NBC Olympics site requires Silverlight, Microsoft's rich web application and video streaming technology that competes with Adobe's market-dominant Flash. Microsoft's been pushing Silverlight pretty hard lately, and if a lot of consumers don't have a reason to install it yet, the Beijing Games in August should be a good a reason as any.

"Over the past 20 years, we have continually expanded our coverage of the Olympics to new platforms as they have become available, and the Beijing Games will mark another milestone," said Gary Zenkel, President, NBC Olympics, in a press release. "By teaming up with MSN and Microsoft, we can give both the core fan and casual consumer of the Olympic Games an amazing online experience, combining high-quality video with the storytelling and analysis that we're known for. We chose to partner with MSN and Microsoft," Zenkel continues, "because technologies such as Silverlight help us deliver the kind of next-generation online viewing experience that will change the way the Olympics is experienced for millions of fans in 2008."

Providing summer Olympics coverage in a downloadable format like this is a natural evolution for NBC. For the 2004 Olympics, all the buzz was about the sheer amount of coverage NBC would be broadcasting (over 1,200 hours in total), as well as the introduction of over 300 hours of HD coverage from NBC and its affiliates. With NBC Olympics on the Go, consumers will have a convenient new option for bringing Olympics video footage with them, though the coverage will be sandboxed to PCs—and then just the ones running compatible versions of Vista.

As far as portable media players are concerned, "We are not addressing portable players with this service," Wavexpress told Ars Technica. "NBC has other distribution outlets for other platforms and types of experiences." NBC has yet to make any announcements for those hoping to bring 2008 Olympics footage in something more portable like an iPod, Zune, or PlaysForSure-compatible device.

[Pestalence_XC]

All I can say is that ever since Vista came out.. Companies are going to Vista Only programming..

For the nay sayers.. I told ya so.

This is why I dual boot my system.. I have the best of both worlds. and honestly, I find Vista to be the stronger OS.. I like XP for backwards compatibility with older games.. but I use Vista for 90% of everything I do.. and 90% of all my software is Vista Compatible..

For the odd game.. I have to use XP.. but everything else works in Vista perfectly fine.. once you learn how to use Vista.

[Rod ONeal]

This isn't going to pressure me into buying 2xOS. If it were the only way to watch the Olympics, which it isn't, I still wouldn't do it.

Besides, it says Vista or Silverlight. Silverlight works with XP, doesn't it?

[toasty0]

This isn't going to pressure me into buying 2xOS. If it were the only way to watch the Olympics, which it isn't, I still wouldn't do it.

Besides, it says Vista or Silverlight. Silverlight works with XP, doesn't it?

It better or the boys in Richmond are gonna be mighty upset.

[Pestalence_XC]

Silverlight does work in XP to a limited capacity.. I think the web casting will work in it on XP however by the reading of it, the web cast is going to be specifically looking for Windows 6 (Vista) .. I'm curious to see how it turns out.

[knightstorm]

Silverlight does work in XP to a limited capacity.. I think the web casting will work in it on XP however by the reading of it, the web cast is going to be specifically looking for Windows 6 (Vista) .. I'm curious to see how it turns out.

[toasty0]

Silverlight does work in XP to a limited capacity.. I think the web casting will work in it on XP however by the reading of it, the web cast is going to be specifically looking for Windows 6 (Vista) .. I'm curious to see how it turns out.

Are you making the point that you're trying to install Vista on incompatable hardware?

[Pestalence_XC]

So you have a corrupted device driver. usually a corrupted Video Driver.. reinstall Video Driver with latest version and you should solve your problem..

So what's the big deal?

[knightstorm]

I did a google image search for vista "blue screen".  That's what I found.  The point I was trying to make is that things like this have blown up in MS' face in the past.  Remember the Lion King?

[toasty0]

I did a google image search for vista "blue screen".  That's what I found.  The point I was trying to make is that things like this have blown up in MS' face in the past.  Remember the Lion King?

So, really, you have no way of know if this is a sppofed image, but you're willing to believe it is not? Looks more like a XPsp1 or earlier OS BSD to me.

[knightstorm]

I did a google image search for vista "blue screen".  That's what I found.  The point I was trying to make is that things like this have blown up in MS' face in the past.  Remember the Lion King?

So, really, you have no way of know if this is a sppofed image, but you're willing to believe it is not? Looks more like a XPsp1 or earlier OS BSD to me.

Does it really matter for the point I was trying to make, ie.  things like this have blown up in Microsoft's face in the past.

By the way, if you're going to nitpick, here's the site I got it from
http://www.josenet.com/windows-vista-64-bit-blue-screen-of-death

[toasty0]

I did a google image search for vista "blue screen".  That's what I found.  The point I was trying to make is that things like this have blown up in MS' face in the past.  Remember the Lion King?

So, really, you have no way of know if this is a sppofed image, but you're willing to believe it is not? Looks more like a XPsp1 or earlier OS BSD to me.

Does it really matter for the point I was trying to make, ie.  things like this have blown up in Microsoft's face in the past.

By the way, if you're going to nitpick, here's the site I got it from
http://www.josenet.com/windows-vista-64-bit-blue-screen-of-death

You mean the site where he says, "Windows vista is definitely more stable..."?

Kind of contradicts your point, eh?

[Pestalence_XC]

I have had that exact BSOD with Vista on the NVidia 169 drivers.. every once in a while when running Crysis in 64 bit with DX 10 and my graphics card (8800 GTX OC2) at maximum resolution.. one of my NVidia Dynamic Link Library files would corrupt.. so I reinstalled the driver, restarted the system, and finished playing the game.. no big deal..

I love how people are making a mountain our of a mole hill..

I later found out that there was a MS Hotfix (later included in Vista SP 1) and I never had the problem again..

[knightstorm]

I did a google image search for vista "blue screen".  That's what I found.  The point I was trying to make is that things like this have blown up in MS' face in the past.  Remember the Lion King?

So, really, you have no way of know if this is a sppofed image, but you're willing to believe it is not? Looks more like a XPsp1 or earlier OS BSD to me.

Does it really matter for the point I was trying to make, ie.  things like this have blown up in Microsoft's face in the past.

By the way, if you're going to nitpick, here's the site I got it from
http://www.josenet.com/windows-vista-64-bit-blue-screen-of-death

You mean the site where he says, "Windows vista is definitely more stable..."?

Kind of contradicts your point, eh?

My point was that in the past, hyped things like this have turned out bad for microsoft.  The classic example is in 1994 when Microsoft ruined Christmas.

[Lieutenant_Q]

My question is, who cares?  The US shouldn't even be going to the Olympics anyways.

China promised that they would clean up their human rights abuses when they were first awarded the Olympics, they were told that their right to host them was contingent upon that improvement.

Have they improved?  Slightly.  No where near what was expected of them.  The only way they get away with it, is because the UN Human Rights Panel is occupied by worse offenders than they are.  I wont be watching ANY OF IT.