God, no wonder people are so wary of computers. It’s all Microsoft, a company which trumpets “ease of use” but has no real idea what that means.
Example: On MSNBC, I just clicked the “Free Video” player, only to be confronted by a pop-up window that says “MSN Video does not support your computer’s operating system.”
Well, screw you, too.
I then clicked on “Get MSN Video system requirements”, which then spawned yet another window which didn’t give me the system requirements, but instead says “Recent customer questions: Why doesn’t MSN Video work with my pop-up blocker?”
I still have no idea what the system requirements are, other than the obvious: only a Microsoft product. and evidently, even if you’re using a Microsoft product, you can’t be using a pop-up blocker.
Boom — just like that, I’ll never be visiting MSNBC or MSN again, and will never be seeing any ads they might have placed on those pages.
Do they think that this tactic will convince people to dump the computer and software they already have just to view some tiny, blocky video? Do they think that in order to access a website people will make a change like that? What a stupid move on their part.
p.s.: as I switched over to CNN, an OS-independent website, I was amused to read the big red banner across the top: BREAKING NEWS A worm shut down computers running Windows 2000 software across the United States. More soon.
Hahahaahaa!!!!
Had a similar thing happen to me yesterday. If you feel like hearing about it go to http://itskirk.blogspot.com/2005/08/microsoft-shrugged.html
It’s definitely a catch-22 situation. Advertisers have found ways around popup blockers. Advertisers pay website designers to code all interactive and multimedia content as “poups” so therefore you have to disable your popup blocker in order to view the site’s content.
It’s a sad situation. Popup blockers used to protect us from advertisements, but now they have found a workaround. And Microsoft, as much money as they rake in already, still smile at the prospect of screwing users just to make an even bigger buck.
If I go to a website that requires me to disable my popup blocker just to view the sites content, I immediately suspect that this is a tactic to get their sponser’s ads to you. It’s a shame.