"Hi there! I was just waiting for you and thought I would pass the time by trying on your pants."
-- Robert A. Heinlein, "Job: A Comedy of Justice", p. 19
"He has muscles where other men don't even have places."
-- Robert A. Heinlein, "Job: A Comedy of Justice", p. 25
Friday, July 28, 2006
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Google 1, AP & Yahoo 0
My local newspaper, the Nashua Telegraph, recently had an "AP Video" item on the front page of their website. To the credit of the newspaper, there was a very obvious note right there explaining that this wouldn't work without the proper version of Internet Explorer, which (as I write this) is still unavailable for Ubuntu, which is my operating system of choice. To the paper's greater credit, when I emailed to complain about this shortsightedness in the requirements, I received a prompt reply stating that the Telegraph is also very concerned about this limitation, and has gone a few rounds with the AP over the issue. The Telegraph is refusing to do more with "AP Video" than display it on the front page with a warning until "AP Video" supports other browsers (and presumeably other operating systems). +1 for the paper, -1 for the AP.
Just now, I happened to browse my way to yahoo.com (which I don't do very often) and there was a video advertised on their front page that caught my eye. I clicked on it to watch it and it started to play but OOPS! "Flash 8 is requird to view this video." Well, that's too bad, because I just checked and Flash 8 isn't available for Linux at all, let alone Ubuntu.
The beautiful thing about each of these pathetic failures is that I can rub Google right in their faces, instead of resorting to the tired old "but you should support Linux because...I want you to" sort of argument. Instead: "You see, I'm running a GNU/Linux operating system, so I don't have Internet Explorer at all, and I don't have Flash 8. But look! video.google.com works just fine for me; in fact, I've never had a problem with Google's site at all. Well, I guess you'll just have to let me know when you catch up to Google."
And they have no excuse for the poor set of assumptions they're making about operating systems, because Google has set the standard and the "AP Video" and video.yahoo.com are failing to reach that standard.
Just now, I happened to browse my way to yahoo.com (which I don't do very often) and there was a video advertised on their front page that caught my eye. I clicked on it to watch it and it started to play but OOPS! "Flash 8 is requird to view this video." Well, that's too bad, because I just checked and Flash 8 isn't available for Linux at all, let alone Ubuntu.
The beautiful thing about each of these pathetic failures is that I can rub Google right in their faces, instead of resorting to the tired old "but you should support Linux because...I want you to" sort of argument. Instead: "You see, I'm running a GNU/Linux operating system, so I don't have Internet Explorer at all, and I don't have Flash 8. But look! video.google.com works just fine for me; in fact, I've never had a problem with Google's site at all. Well, I guess you'll just have to let me know when you catch up to Google."
And they have no excuse for the poor set of assumptions they're making about operating systems, because Google has set the standard and the "AP Video" and video.yahoo.com are failing to reach that standard.
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