Slashdot Mirror


MS Silverlight To Stream Obama Inauguration Events

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.

20 of 589 comments (clear)

  1. The OB Me$$iah comes! by mrmeval · · Score: 0, Troll

    All hail the OB Me&$iah!

    --
    I'd go on a Vegan diet but the delivery time from Vega is too long. --brownkitty
  2. Change we can believe in my b**** by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Change we can believe in my b****

    All hail President Bush the 3rd

    1. Re:change we can believe in my b**** by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      Either way, we're fucked.

  3. change we can believe in my b**** by unix_geek_512 · · Score: -1, Troll

    change we can believe in my b****

    All hail Pres Bush the 3rd

  4. Re:So much for a tech savvy Whitehouse. by Rasta_the_far_Ian · · Score: 1, Troll

    Need to make noise about this in every public forum / newsgroup / polital meeting now.

    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.

    I shudder to think of any Microsoft friendly legislation coming before the new President - this is a clear signal that he will support MS over non-MS objectives.

  5. False, false false... by po134 · · Score: 0, Troll

    How could an information so wrong have made it to frontpage?
    http://silverlight.net/GetStarted/ there's a mac runtime.

  6. Re:The story is crap, but by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    I wanted to write a multi-file uploader for one of my apps, and I was able to do so in just a couple of hours, end to end.

    It took you a couple of hours to write something to upload multiple files? Damn you suck major ass. That's an ancient already solved problem.

    Let me guess, you think you're cool because you wrote a web page with images on it? Loser.

     

  7. Re:Typical by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Asshole! Silverlight is necessary for one web site, go elsewhere if you like. Its uninstallable like any other program. Its not unstable. It works at least as well as flash. I would have figure that you people would have learned by now. .Net was a reimplimentation of Java, only they got it right. Silverlight is a re-implementation of flash, only they got it right. When MS steals an idea and re-impliments it, they do it right (like they did in the past with Citrix and the remote desktop ecosystem)

  8. Silverlight must die by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Fuck this shit. Microsoft does not own the inauguration, and they should not force its shit-ware on the public to view this once in a lifetime event.

    Businesses who are streaming this event should be using technologies that are cross-platform and work with any standards compliant client, not just the ones running Microsoft.

  9. Re:WRONG! by FishWithAHammer · · Score: 0, Troll

    No, you stupid fucktard, you can choose to use Silverlight if you want to use that website. They set the requirements for their own site--you don't like it, go elsewhere.

    --
    "You can either have software quality or you can have pointer arithmetic, but you cannot have both at the same time."
  10. Re:The story is crap, but by FishWithAHammer · · Score: 0, Troll

    It's an open standard. You can go write your own implementation of it if you like.

    It is free--zero cost. It's not Stallman-free, but Stallman is an idiot.

    It's as inclusive as any web software is.

    Conclusion: you're a fucking tool.

    --
    "You can either have software quality or you can have pointer arithmetic, but you cannot have both at the same time."
  11. Would you be willing to pay increased tax by coryking · · Score: 1, Troll

    Are you willing to pay higher taxes to offer streaming in several formats? If yes, please go lobby the administration. If no, then would you rather they not offer any kind of user-friendly way to stream video? I would say "make it like youtube" is a critical requirement for the website.

    Can you suggest a non-proprietary way to stream video ala-youtube on a web page? If no, then are you willing to spend your spare time to create a non-proprietary (defined however you wish) way to stream video content in a way that works on at least as many targets as Flash or Silverlight?

  12. Re:So much for a tech savvy Whitehouse. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Oh and I suppose linux magically had a working solution to run flash when it was still in it's early stages, and hadn't had such community backing and huge install base? Please. You're just trying to justify your Microsoft-hatred with yet another useless excuse.

    Flash was once at a stage exactly like the one Silverlight is in now. Why don't you, instead, bitch at the Moonlight developers to get off their ass and actually finish something you can use on your oh-so-precious linux OS to enable you to view this one tiny website that you make out is so important that you're world will collapse if you couldn't view it on your linux computer? No, you go out and blame Microsoft first, yet again, just like the regular little Microsoft-hater you are. I'm tempted to say grow a pair, but "be logical" would be, by far, the best advice I can offer you.

  13. Re:Since you are so cool by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    "Point to a good mutli-file uploader that supports a mod_perl2 backend, not either PHP or ASP.NET?"

    the one you wrote and made GLP3?

    fuck off!

  14. Re:So much for a tech savvy Whitehouse. by jwhitener · · Score: 0, Troll

    "It isn't open access. I'm running Linux and I can't use it. Therefore it is excluding me based on OS usage. I'd gladly use Adobe Flash (they make it for Linux)"

    If you ran OS/2 or DOS 6 or windows 3.11 would be complaining about the lack of 'open access' as well?

    If you run a system that less than 1% of all computer users have for multimedia purposes, expect to be disappointed from time to time.

  15. Re:By that definition by coryking · · Score: 0, Troll

    If you toss out the concern over "safe patents", then by definition Moonlight is a safe alternative. It, and it's native AV codecs have probably as many patents as MPEG* and is probably just as safe. Why not spend your time working on getting Moonlight up to Silverlight 2? I mean hell, ffmpeg can handle Silverlight 2 codecs if compiled right, so I'd say it is a safe bet!

    If you want to make this Stallman/FSFApproved Open-Source(tm) Free-Software(tm), then you can't just toss out the "patents are okay if I think they are safe". Thus you are stuck with Vorbis/Theora, and even then you might not get the Stallman Seal of Approval as Theora is based on VP3, which has a patent on it. Regardless of certification, neither have a way to be embedded Youtube style in a webpage.

    PS: If it isn't Stallman/FSF Approved Open-Source(tm) Free-Software(tm), then I promise you that it will be a Slashdot story with just as many comments bitching about "Obama is not Open". Thus you *have no choice* but to use Vorbis/Theora, and I am only assuming that is Stallman Approved(tm). Dont like it? Welcome to open source politics.

  16. Re:By that definition by binarylarry · · Score: 0, Troll

    Moonlight doesn't work yet and probably never will, you Microsoft fanboy douche.

    Flash and Java work fine on any operating system with more than handful of users.

    Silverlight doesn't.

    --
    Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
  17. Contact the DNC right now! by stonewolf · · Score: 1, Troll

    I have already contacted the DNC about this and filed a complaint under their Civil Rights heading. http://www.democrats.org/contact.html

    I asked them what they were thinking when the chose to support a convicted criminal organization (MS) over the freedom loving people of the US.

    Email them *now*

    Stonewolf

    1. Re:Contact the DNC right now! by stonewolf · · Score: 0, Troll

      The sad thing is that you can laugh at it. You value your rights so little that you give them away.

  18. Re:Kids these days... by coryking · · Score: 1, Troll

    So I have an open source project for silverlight and post on the silverlight forums. Paranoid just a bit? Get a life dude. What have you done for open source?