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Microsoft Celebrates Feynman 50-year Anniversary

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the over-your-head dept.

Julie188 writes "A couple of years ago Microsoft acquired the rights to the famed filmed lecture series by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman and posted them online for all to see via its Project Tuva site. As part of the 50-year anniversary of the lectures, the Project Tuva site now includes commentary from MIT physics professor Robert Jaffe. Project Tuva still requires Silverlight (alas, not HTML5), but does offer some nifty features for the aspiring physics student, such as search and the ability to take notes."

14 of 169 comments (clear)

  1. Because it's Silverlight... by tian2992 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's a shame no one will get to see it...

    1. Re:Because it's Silverlight... by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's a shame no one will get to see it...

      I was bummed to discover that Microsoft owns the rights to the Feynman lectures. Available in Silverlight only just rubs salt in the wound.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    2. Re:Because it's Silverlight... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's a shame no one will get to see it...

      I was bummed to discover that Microsoft owns the rights to the Feynman lectures. Available in Silverlight only just rubs salt in the wound.

      Exactly. Feynman loved to teach and he loved to educate. He would not appreciate people holding his teaching behinds artificial barriers. What a shame. I'd sad to see Feynman's legacy "owned" by people who are so inferior-minded and unimportant compared to him.

    3. Re:Because it's Silverlight... by schnikies79 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yes it does, and it works just fine on my copy of firefox running on os x.

      --
      Gone!
    4. Re:Because it's Silverlight... by SanityInAnarchy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What barrier, a free download barrier?

      For some value of "free".

      Free download, but only available for Windows and OS X. If you're on Linux, there's Mono, but that tends to lag behind -- I usually have to get some bleeding-edge version whenever I actually need some Silverlight content. And contrary to popular belief, neither Windows nor OS X is "free".

      What's insulting about this, especially to Feynman's legacy, is that there's a very simple right way to do this: HTML5. And that actually is behind a free download -- Chrome, Firefox, etc, assuming you don't already have a browser capable of playing it. Or, for that matter, multiple technologies at once, if you're afraid of the codec issue -- put it in, say, H.264, then you should be able to develop Flash and Silverlight shims for browsers which don't support H.264 in HTML5.

      --
      Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
    5. Re:Because it's Silverlight... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Wow, not kowtowing to the latest in whiz-bang proprietary lock-in bullshit is being a luddite now? It amazes me that people have worked so hard to free the web from the clutches of the likes of MS (active-X) and Adobe (flash) through the efforts put into html5 and now we get the pleasure of being called a luddite. If anything, I'd say not embracing the <img> tag is being a luddite.

    6. Re:Because it's Silverlight... by Covalent · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Silverlight != FOSS Therefore, this awesome piece of the legacy of Richard Feynman is currently != free. Furthermore, what is to prevent MS from making this no longer "free"? Nothing. The real tragedy, though, is that 50-year-old video of a man who is long dead is still covered by copyright.

      --
      Great warrior...hrmph! Wars not make one great.
    7. Re:Because it's Silverlight... by oakgrove · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Wow, using a free browser addon that has versions for Windows, Mac, and Linux

      That's interesting. Because, you see, I just went here, was told my browser was not officially supported so I should go here and install moonlight. Okay, cool, so I do it and go back to here. Guess what. No lecture. That's some support.

      I don't think I'd enjoy your Internet very much.

      My html5 open standards based internet is fantastic, thank you very much. Works on my iPhone, my Xoom, my Ubuntu netbook, my Ubuntu desktop, and my Droid smartphone. Have fun playing with your silverflash.

      --
      The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
    8. Re:Because it's Silverlight... by gstoddart · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well, then your a short sighted moron.

      The fact that any corporation can own the "rights" to a lecture series by one of the most brilliant physicists (and teachers of physics) in the last century is appalling.

      These lectures were filmed by Caltech, and it's awful to have anybody "own" them. It's just the kind of thing that shouldn't be locked up in some corporations IP portfolio -- and I don't care if it's Microsoft, Sony, or Time Warner.

      Really, what next ... The Einstein/Pepsi Theory of Relativity? Planck's Constant, brought to you by Staples?

      My point is that no commercial entity should hold the "rights" to this. This is quite depressing.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    9. Re:Because it's Silverlight... by zpiro · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I can watch Netflix using Chrome, but the Project Tuva site says my browser isn't supported for Silverlight...

      So I went to the effort of setting up moonlight (4.0), getting it to work on chrome compiling necessary software.
      Even the silverlight port of Quake worked (quakelight), albeit actually playing didn't.
      However, that site denies me access because my browser isn't "officially" supported -- surprise surprise.

      Where I work, there are mostly physicists, most of them use Linux and quite a few use OSX, windows users being a (very) small minority.

      Physicists in practice being denied access to the lectures by one of the most inspiring physicists throughout history.

      Have to give it to M$, they are consistent when it comes to coercing / luring people into using their products.

      If at least it was the first of April, there would be a glimmer of hope for this cretinous hostage-taking of a truly great man. Whats wrong with the world when someone can own this, wasn't he essentially paid by the people?

      Now, where is my public-access to science and the educators of the public!

  2. Not on the Internet. by bobs666 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's only in the Microsoft net. Due to the requirement to use Silverlight.

  3. Silverlight? BULLSHIT. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Anyone have a torrent link?

  4. Re:What, NOTHING about the CONTENT? by blair1q · · Score: 3, Insightful

    In order to comment on the content, you have to see the content.

    I'm guessing we're finding out how many /. users use /. on Windows boxes this time of day.

  5. Re:What, NOTHING about the CONTENT? by TaoPhoenix · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Marshall McLuhan (I think?) would be proud that the Medium is the Message. If you wanted to talk about Feynman's Awesomeness, you/someone would have posted a story like "It's the 50th anniversary of Feynman's Lectures. How has Feynman contributed to what you do today?"

    This story is "Microsoft bought the rights to SomeCoolContent. However, they couldn't have picked any of three generic video formats, but once again made an excuse to follow their Proprietary Only strategy."

    2002 called. They want their "Sites work only in IE" back.

    --
    My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine