Introducing… Silverlight?

The clock on the NBCOlympics.com site reads 7 days, 12 hours, 31 minutes, and 29 seconds until the start of the Olympics, but the clock countdown on watching NBC Olympics On the Go on the Mac is T minus never. That’s because On the Go is sponsored by Lenovo and powered by somebody called TVTonic, and when you click to install TVTonic you get this notice:

Software Compatibility Notice
We’re sorry, your computer isn’t compatible with NBC Olympics On The Go, powered by TVTonic. Please read the system requirements for more.

If you would like to download the installer software anyway, you may click here to download it.

Perhaps the suggestion to download the software anyway is to accommodate dual boot users, but I imagine running Parallels would avoid the whole Mac error screen anyway. What’s surprising is that Microsoft has made much of the fact that NBC’s Olympic coverage will be augmented by an enhanced experience with multiple camera angles, interactive data, and various extended features, powered by the cross-platform Silverlight technology. Just to maintain the confusion, TVTonic offers an option to Watch the Introduction video that requires Silverlight.

Meanwhile, back over on the main site, the countdown continues. You can watch videos and peruse results and schedules, all powered by the afore-mentioned Silverlight, and all the while being upsold to DirectTV packages of extended coverage. There are no indications of how special Silverlight programming will be scheduled or announced, and no features like On the Go’s “subscribe to your favorite events for automatic delivery to your PC.” Not an auspicious debut for the Silverlight strategy of reaching what Microsoft thinks will be some 100 million desktops by the time the Olympics end.

Oh well, guess I’ll watch the Introduction video again.