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Not Playing Nice (4/29/98)
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My oh my, the "legitimate" press has glommed onto the story of how Disney is discriminating against Mac users by allowing only Windows 95 users to access their "Disney Daily Blast" site. The New York Times apparently found the story noteworthy, once they found out that Mac users are hacking their browsers to make Disney's servers think those Macs are really Windows machines. As long as the server thinks it's connected to a Windows box instead of a Mac, most of the site works flawlessly. (We doubt the Times would be interested without the "hacking the browser" angle, but hey, we'll take what we can get.)
Disney's response to this demonstration that the "No Macs" restriction was clearly not primarily a technical decision was simply to state that they are working on Mac support (which they've been saying for a year), and until the whole site works well on the Mac platform, they'd rather not charge Mac users to access the site. Personally, we at AtAT think that's a pretty flimsy justification. Especially since Disney uses plenty of Macs in the production of the Disney Blast site. Why not offer Mac users a discounted rate based on the 10% of the site that's not accessible, instead of arbitrarily blocking all access by the platform? After all, AOL charged Mac users the same as Windows users even when Windows users had access to lots more content, like online games and such.
If you want to try this yourself, detailed instructions and screenshots are available at the "Disney Blasted" site. We've heard, however, that the Disney Blast isn't all it's cracked up to be; just another overrated pay site for children. Still, it's interesting to note that rather than simply restrict Mac access to the 90% of the site that works on Macs, Disney instead decided to block Mac users entirely. That hardly seems fair, now, does it?
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SceneLink (660)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 4/29/98 episode: April 29, 1998: A mysterious message materializes on a "Think Different" billboard in Silicon Valley. Meanwhile, Microsoft prepares for a potential tag-team assault by twelve states and the Department of Justice, and Disney's shunning of Mac users from its "Disney Blast" site continues to raise hackles...
Other scenes from that episode: 658: It's Not Too Late (4/29/98) A cryptic message materialized on a Dalai Lama "Think Different" billboard yesterday; someone-- or something-- changed the ad's slogan to "Think disillusioned." In addition, the Apple logo had been transformed into a "creepy grinning skull."... 659: Gang of Davids, 1 Goliath (4/29/98) Every time we resolve ourselves to the fact that Microsoft is an unstoppable juggernaut, something happens that reintroduces that teeniest little bit of doubt. You've certainly heard by now that the Department of Justice, who has accomplished relatively little in its ongoing "Redmond Justice" case, is considering filing a new lawsuit targeting anticompetitive practices regarding Windows 98...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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