NBC is screwing over Linux users.
Some of their websites, including the one for Saturday Night Live, offer a link to this page, where "Select NBC Universal shows are now available for download on Intel(R) Viiv(TM) technology and Intel(R) Centrino(TM) mobile technology based-PCs for a limited time in the United States." Nothing is stated about browser and operating system requirements.
I'm running Firefox on Linux, and when I clicked on the Next button, I got a cryptic JavaScript error, "mediacontrol is not defined":
If I dismiss it, a graphic load on that page about downloading an ActiveX control, and then I am redirected to an "error" page full of random Unicode characters:
Now, as a Linux user I am used to often being shut out of websites or software because my platform is not supported. I usually just look for an alternative, or decide, sour-grapes-style, that if they didn't support Linux, then their content probably wasn't worth it anyway.
But NBC doesn't say what operating systems they support! They probably assumed that "Intel(R) Centrino(TM) mobile technology based-PCs" only ran Windows. Well, straight from the horse's mouth (Intel), we have it that "Linux will run on any Intel chipset-based platform including laptop PCs with the Intel Core Duo processor, Mobile Intel 945 Express Chipset family and Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection." (found here) and that, more importantly, "Intel Centrino mobile technology supports the following operating systems...All Linux distributions supporting kernel version 2.6.8 or later" (found here).
So NBC... I live in the United States, and I have a Centrino laptop... where are my videos?
(I've sent an email to the NBC webmaster about this, and if I get a reply, I'll post it here.)
P.S.: Kudos to Intel. Your Linux support means I can have working power management, wireless, and good-enough 3D graphics on Linux, and get 8 hours of battery life. Try that with Vista!
