toggle

AAPL Stock: 562.29 ( -3.03 )

MacNN News

New MSNBC service does not support Macs

updated 01:04 am EST, Wed January 24, 2001

Brian Johnson notes that MSNBC's recent (re)launch of Highspeed.MSNBC.com does not support Macs:

"MSNBC has recently launched Highspeed.MSNBC.com, which touts: 'The new user interface, a destination news page for broadband users, provides easy access to interactive rich-media features as well as live and on-demand video including MSNBC.com's hourly Video Headlines.' But when a mac user attempts to use the site, a window pops up with this message: 'The MSNBC HighSpeed page is not supported on the Macintosh platform.'"

by MacNN Staff

print

email

(36)

TAGS :

industry

Share the Article

Facebook Twitter Delious Slash Dot Digg

Comments

0

Joined:

0

01/24, 01:28am | report spam | close Reply | delete
You're kidding?!

No Macintosh support? That is SO unbelieveable! Gee, I hope this doesn't set a precedent.

Wayne

0

Joined:

0

01/24, 01:42am | report spam | close Reply | delete
Big Surprise

Thats what happens when your market share of pc users shrinks from really low to really, really, low.

0

Joined:

0

01/24, 01:43am | report spam | close Reply | delete
Another loss

If your going to make a product on TV worth porting over to the net, you must first have a successful product worth porting over. Since I don't watch it on TV, I obviously can't see the loss from my standpoint.

0

Joined:

0

01/24, 01:51am | report spam | close Reply | delete
BFD

So, microsoft finds another way to shun Mac users. Big deal. Someone will step up, give us what we need, and we will be fiercely loyal to them. nothing that could be at highspeed.MSNBC.com makes me even consider buying a PC.

0

Joined:

0

01/24, 01:57am | report spam | close Reply | delete
who the f@ck cares?

i mean really? i don't have a "highspeed" portal for my internet access? darn. i'm probably missing out on a talking paper clip that will help me figure out the myriad of unintuitive bloated options.

people really shouldn't use ms products they're sub par. i know a lot of mac users browse with ie 5.0 and love it. i can't c y. try mozilla 0.7. fast, stable and free of a microsoft menut that invites u to try all the kewl ms products out there.

0

Joined:

0

01/24, 02:31am | report spam | close Reply | delete
its' cr@p anyway

nbci couldn't find an internet strategy if it roosted up its own butt. the service is another cheap gimick to herd people to the site so they can blast them with ads and try to sell them stuff. in the history of things this site (and the marketing dweebs who came up with the idea) will not amount to much. like there isn't about 2,0000,000 other sites that you can get this stuff. good stuff too not GE/Microsoft spoon fed "news"

0

Joined:

0

01/24, 04:30am | report spam | close Reply | delete
Let them know...

http://www.msnbc.com/modules/feedback/techsup.asp

0

Joined:

0

01/24, 05:08am | report spam | close Reply | delete
hmmm...

If you REALLY want to see this service, you could try altering your user-agent string in your browser. Find the details on Resexcellence.

0

Joined:

0

01/24, 05:47am | report spam | close Reply | delete
F'em !

Don't change your useragent string - ever. It's the only way of letting Webmasters and metrics people know that Mac users's actually exist !

What about Linux users ? Are they banned from this site ? Dedicating your content to a fixed hardware or software platform is a bad move for anyone - look at the Pentium III 'enhanced' web sites debacle.

Anyone who writes a web page that explicitly excludes *any* section of it's intended audience should be sacked by their boss. It's like a TV show only being visible on Sony TVs or something...

0

Joined:

0

01/24, 06:26am | report spam | close Reply | delete
If you really want to see

�the website, use iCab. In iCab's Preferences, set the Identity to "Mozilla 4.76 [en] (Win98; U)" and hit OK. The site will load up as if you had a Winblows con-job. There is streaming video available, and I'll be every bit of it is WinMediaPlayer format. (I don't know because you couldn't PAY me to put MacroShaft BS on my Mac.) Since iCab 2.4 supports many Nutscrape/IdiotExploiter plug-in, if you have the browser plug-in for WMP, make an alias of it and put the alias in the iCab Plug-ins folder and get it a whirl.

0

Joined:

0

01/24, 08:22am | report spam | close Reply | delete
StraightForward Reasons

There's a very direct reason why this is the way it has to be.. Apple's satreaming media technology specifically excludes most all corporate networks (they don't provide authenticating proxy support). So if they went through the expense of having dual formats, it would be pointless because those corporate networks are still excluded.

As to ads.. how long do you think Mac only site like MacNN would exist without advertising revenue?

0

Joined:

0

01/24, 08:28am | report spam | close Reply | delete
blow it out

gee wiz everyone this is NOT the end of the world....

who here can really say
a.) i like msnbc?
b.) who finds the site useful?
c.)actually reads msnbc.com news?

this is blowen way out of proporation... i have this old back and white tv and you know what it dosn;t suppot cable oh now the outrage.

To the ones who say IE is junk i would say the same of netscape/mozilia. I had hope but it supports nothing. Pages tend to to render right and the UI is nothing almost as bad as windows.

0

Joined:

0

01/24, 08:44am | report spam | close Reply | delete
Oh well

Proves to show that the only way Microsoft can get people to use its cheap, oh but 'innovative' technology is to FORCE them to do it. In any case, it's pointless to argue, most consumers are very much ignorant as to how ot use a computer as is, let alone figure out what OS or apps are better than the other...sad but true...and you wonder why people aren't born equal...there's the proof! : )

0

Joined:

0

01/24, 08:58am | report spam | close Reply | delete
I can use it fine...

Perhaps they are making changes to the site as we write, because I went to the site -- on a 56K modem no less -- and was able to navigate around the site just fine. I didn't watch any video because I do not have Windows Media Player installed on my Mac, but the pop-up window asking me for my conection speed came up when I clicked on a video.

I sent some feedback to technical support telling them so and urging them to remove the "warning" because they were singling out Mac users but didn't speak to Linux, Unix, Solaris, etc. users. After all, I could see the content anyway (despite some layout glitches which were likely due to idiot browser differences which aren't their fault). and, if they truly wanted as many eyeballs as possible seeing their advertising, then it was in their best interest to keep their site multi-platform. Their competitors do, after all... Mention their competitors, and see how fast they change things. :^)

0

Joined:

0

01/24, 09:13am | report spam | close Reply | delete
SOS

Indeed this is the best example of MS innovation to date! Its only possible to innovate when you tie all of the media right into the OS. I can hardly imagine another way to make it all work!

But seriously, i boycott MSNBC, mainbecause its c*** anyway. Look guys, they just plain dont care. they are a buch of windows zombies, the reason why it doenst work is that they have no idea *how*. Its its not windows these damned MCSEs will stare at you like a deer in the headlights.

0

Joined:

0

01/24, 09:18am | report spam | close Reply | delete
Only the beginning...

In south Korea, the country that is adopting broadband at the fastest rate in the world, 99 % of computer users are using localized version of Windows. (In Japan, around 10 % are Mac users, almost the highest in the world.) Only handful of Mac users in Korea are mostly press professionals. So what?

It took only one year for major public web services, including broadcasting companies, to adopt Windows-only Visual Basic script as a standard. They strongly prefer Visual Basic script over any other platform independent scripts. You guys and girls know why... VBS is easier than perl!

So, now I cannot watch Korean broadcasting on the web. (You cannot imagine how rich it is. Remember that broadband users are considered as major portion in south Korea.) One more thing...

Many PC manufacturers in south Korea recently attempted to develop Linux business. Then MS warned them silently...;-) All gave up... Intel did the same thing and they gave up AMD chips, too.

This could be the future in US, too. MS will do whatever that even doesn't look pretty for maintaining the share for a stock. It's not one's greed. It's the formular of Capitalism that even Bill cannot touch, even if he doesn't want to be that much greedy...

Only the solution for Mac users is actively fighting against such tactics. (with Linux users.) Watch China! They are trying to adopt Linux as the unified platform of the country.

0

Joined:

0

01/24, 09:34am | report spam | close Reply | delete
Did anybody try it??

9600/233 running OS 9.0.4 on a 56k dial-up connection. Netscape Communicator 4.76. Highspeed.msnbc.com works great for me. If they did not support Macs earlier today, well....they do now.

0

Joined:

0

01/24, 11:04am | report spam | close Reply | delete
Of course not...

Why would anyone bother actually checking it out when instead they could heap their negativity on this board? It ain't the 'mac' way.

0

Joined:

0

01/24, 11:23am | report spam | close Reply | delete
didn't work for me

I just went to http://Highspeed.msnbc.com/ and got a pop-up window that reads:

The browser you are using is not supported.
The MSNBC HighSpeed page is not
supported on the Macintosh platform.

and was forwarded to
http://www.msnbc.com/m/v/video_news.asp?bt=

I'm running Netscape Communicator 4.74-20000706 on
a B&W G3, Mac OS 9.0.4

0

Joined:

0

01/24, 11:47am | report spam | close Reply | delete
use iCab

Use iCab for most sites that aren't supported by Netscape or Explorer on the Mac. It usually works. And for those with MacOS X beta, OMNI works well on many sites as well.

0

Joined:

0

01/24, 12:33pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Hypocritical?

I think I brought this up a while back, and I think I again prefaced it with the fact that I'm one of the most dihard mac fans around (Apple & Mac museum at home, work for a leading Mac-centric data storage manufacturer)

...but...

Why is it that when Microsoft high-profiles a "Windows Only" service, we all get our collective panties in a bunch, but when Apple does the same thing (anyone tried iTools on a Linux box?) we can not cheer them on enough?

Now, I understand that Microsoft is "The Majority" and Apple is "The Minority" (and gawd I wish this were the other way around), but I don't think that we need to sink to this level just because Microsoft set up a Windows-only service on a website. True, it's a news/information service, but as many others have pointed out, this will just give the Mac community another reason to go to "alternate" sites (such as cnn.com).

I guess what I'm really driving at here is that we should *pick* our battles :)

r.

0

Joined:

0

01/24, 02:30pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Re: Hypocritical?

No, its not hypocritical. iTools is tied to the OS, no problem. Its offered as part of the lure of OS 9. Intel puts up some schlock spot for PIII owners, and no one complained about that either (OK, we complained on the advertising, I mean, can a PIII really make the internet that much better?)

MSNBC.com is NOT part of a Microsoft OS. Its a website for the MSNBC network, a joint-run venture between NBC and Microsoft. Anyone with cable and a high tolerance for pain can watch the channel (hey, when I was in florida in december, I was watching wall to wall MSNBC coverage of Madonna's baby's christening! Just think how much better that would be on the Web!). All users can go to the main site.

They want as many viewers as possible. Its when they take part of the site and make platform-specific FOR THEIR OWN PLATFORM is what gets people upset. MS says they're not a monopoly, and sound-minded people then see actions like this and say "How can a company get away with this!".

0

Joined:

0

01/24, 02:50pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
s**** them

I won't be visiting.

0

Joined:

0

01/24, 03:49pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
And I care because...?

Personally, I could care less about MSNBC and their "high Speed MSNBC". After all if M$ doesn't want 20 or 30 million Mac users visiting their site, that's up to them. I'm sure they don't need the add dollars. Heck, that's only a drop in the bucket to them anyway. I don't think MSNBC has anything to say that I'm interested in seeing/hearing anyway.

0

Joined:

0

01/24, 04:24pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
works fine on my mac

I use IE 5 on my Mac and besides the stupid little box that pops up that says, no mac support, when you first connect to the site, it works fine. I was able to watch all the broadband video. I just launches the media player as a stand-a-lone player, instead of in the pop up browser window. And that's cause Microsoft software guy's that, make media player for the mac are to big of PRICKS to make a plugin so it can be viewed in the browser. (Real Hard)

Oh well, works anyway.

0

Joined:

0

01/24, 04:24pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
It's too bad

MS's websites are all still FUBAR because of the DNS problems.

0

Joined:

0

01/24, 04:44pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
go here

Go here for Highspeed MSNBC on a mac:

http://www.msnbc.com/m/hs/nn/hs.asp?id=&p=&lnk=

that is the link that MSNBC won't let Macs goto (unless you do the iCab trick). If you have a Mac, highspeed.msnbc.com, will forward you to:

http://www.msnbc.com/m/v/video_news.asp?bt=

Just thought I'd let you know.

Note: going to the top link will open WMP7.

0

Joined:

0

01/24, 10:23pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
heh

it also screws over Netscape 6 for Windows

0

Joined:

0

01/25, 12:21am | report spam | close Reply | delete
Go here

I use iCab and got into that site without problems. Once inside, then I had a problem!

I had to get out of there ASAP or risk decreasing my IQ being surrounded by so much hype & stupidity. After all, I can get into FOX anytime and with any browser and get some meaningful contents.

Al

0

Joined:

0

01/25, 03:54am | report spam | close Reply | delete
To the beginning

I read the South Korean article with great interest and I think this is really going to backfire at some point. We have the megabehemoth Goliath. It has gone beyond taking over the competition of IBM (OS2/warp), Apple (intelligent interface), Lotus (remember 123?) and the list goes on. It has gone beyond taking over countries (watch the DOJ case become a $20 million dollar Sun joke). It wants to take over everyone.

These free thinking a free feeling spirits will not be silenced. Look at what the hackers at starting to get up to, a cyberDavid. I think there is going to be a cyberwar coming against MS and there will be a rally. South Korea looks like a prime spot for MS to flourish, especially if conformity is the cultural norm. It could also backfire because if one of them wakes up, they all wake up. The bear will get stung by the many stings of the bee.

Microsoft just might find that things get macrohard for them. History is full of tyrants who try to remove freedom and impose their will upon others. Good luck.

Have a great day people.

0

Joined:

0

01/25, 04:30pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Meaningful content?

Well, I have accessed the MSNBC site with no problems either. I've got 11 Macs ranging from early iMacs to G4 500 DP's and I was able to access the site from every one of them, with full content.

As far as Microsoft product quality, IE 5 blows everything else out there (not true previous to IE 5) and Office 2001 is by far and away the superior WP for Mac. Don't even give me the Appleworks arguement, good program........virtually nobody uses it.

Finally, for the individual who was extolling the virtues of FOX News over other "news" sites.............Please, give us all a break, FOX News is the most right wing slanted news organization out there ("We report, you decide".....what utter BS). I would recommend you either wake up or get rid of your Mac, it's way too advanced for your facist mind set.

One last point. Mac users get pooped on because of idiots like the one above who call for a "cyber war" because they don't know any more intelligent way of expressing themselves. Get a life. You've obviously been playing too much Quake.If something so absurd were to somehow occur, we can only hope you would be the first to "get it". Lastly, your bear and bee analogy sounds like something from a rejected episode of "Kung Fu". Hopefully the computer world recognizes the difference between the idiots who carry their computer like a flag, and dedicated users like the majority of us.
It's up to Apple to solve these problems, not the "bee".

0

Joined:

0

01/25, 06:45pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Meaningful content #2

I don't care that FOX is pictured as right wing. At least they have the guts to present people of any tendency. Not very much like others that conduct some political discussion with two leftists and a neutral. That much for content.

On the other hand I did wake up a long time ago once I found something different (think different, no?) from the slanted, biased information served as e**** by the famous media networks. Not that I am alone either. That could easily explain why their share of viewers has gone constantly declining. And not, I am not getting rid of my Macs and much less of Nisus Writer. Why should I?

Please, have a life, we have had more than our share of know-everything-experts.

0

Joined:

0

01/25, 06:46pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Meaningful content #2

I don't care that FOX is pictured as right wing. At least they have the guts to present people of any tendency. Not very much like others that conduct some political discussion with two leftists and a neutral. That much for content.

On the other hand I did wake up a long time ago once I found something different (think different, no?) from the slanted, biased information served as e**** by the famous media networks. Not that I am alone either. That could easily explain why their share of viewers has gone constantly declining. And not, I am not getting rid of my Macs and much less of Nisus Writer. Why should I?

Please, have a life, we have had more than our share of know-everything-experts.

0

Joined:

0

01/25, 08:31pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
ADA

Is there any way they could get nailed for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (e.g. Mac based aids for the disabled)

0

Joined:

0

01/25, 08:41pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
MSNBC Highspeed for Mac

Go to this link:

http://www.msnbc.com/m/b/msnbc/bb.htm?id="+sID+"&m="+sP+"&lnk="+sL

-- david.jenuwine@home.com

0

Joined:

0

01/26, 10:29am | report spam | close Reply | delete
It works

I used Netscape 4.76 and some version fo Windows Media Player. I got the pop-up window saying my browser was unsupported and that the website does not support the Macintosh platform. I went ahead anyway.

The site seems to be mostly video clips of NBC news stories and links to other MSN/NBC sites.

Show More Comments

Login Here

OR

toggle

Network Headlines

05/26	Apple updates iOS 5.1.1 release for...
05/25	Sotheby to auction Jobs Atari memo,...
05/25	Apple hiring new chip engineers for...
05/25	Third-gen iPad coming to Philippines...
05/25	Apple to integrate Baidu search into...

05/27	Manufacturing problems delay blue Samsung...
05/25	Sotheby to auction Jobs Atari memo,...
05/25	Apple to integrate Baidu search into...
05/25	Google picks up webOS Enyo team, Open...
05/24	Apple submits surprise optical stylus...

05/25	Sotheby to auction Jobs Atari memo,...
05/23	Google launches redesigned Search app...
05/22	Leaked next-gen iPod touch part hints...
05/22	Hulu Plus updates with iPad Retina...
05/22	TiVo Stream to push TV to iPhones,...

03/02	Save $330 on refurb. 15.4-inch, 2.4GHz...
03/01	Pre-owned 8GB iPod touch 2G, drops...
02/29	$150 off Nikon Coolpix S80 Compact...
02/28	Plantronics BackBeat 903 Bluetooth...
02/27	Refurb. Seagate 1.5TB GoFlex Portable...

Most Popular

MacNN Sponsor

Recent Reviews

iHome iW2 AirPlay speaker

iHome generally isn't known as a luxury brand when it comes to audio, but it is prolific -- the company's docks and speakers are every ...

Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard Cover

One of the iPad's main weaknesses has always been productivity. It's not a question of apps; while it has taken a little time for a na ...

Logitech UE Air Speaker

If maybe a little more slowly than Apple would like, AirPlay is becoming a staple of the wireless speaker market for iOS devices. The ...

Most Commented

10 Most Discussed

Popular News

MacNN Marketplace