The following is my very personal opinion only. I\'m sorry if it offends anyone.
Youbet SUCKS because it doesn\'t support the Macintosh. THERE SIMPLY IS NO EXCUSE FOR THIS IN THE YEAR 2005! Now, you\'ll likely hear seemingly sane and reasonable people make a case against having to design for Mac users. Don\'t believe them. This is to say that they\'re stupid, lazy, clueless people.
Years ago, ThoroGraph had the intelligence to offer downloads in Acrobat format, which accommodates both IBM and Mac. Hurray for ThoroGraph! They planned! Did Ragozin Data have the intelligence to do this? NO!
Years ago, BrisBet had the intelligence to offer live racetrack video streaming [using Windows Media Player] to both IBM and Macintosh users. Hurray for Brisbet! Does Youbet offer video streaming - even through Windows Media Player! - to Macintosh users? NO! Does XPressbet? NO!
[See my favorite old Saturday Night Live sketch with Gilda Radner about \"Stupid People.\"]
As racing becomes more and more of an online wired game, there absolutely is no excuse for this.
JohnTChance
John, As a UBET shareholder, I can understand why they haven\'t made the investment to make their product compatible to MacIntosh. This company has in the last year or so just started to reach financial stability after several years of struggling to keep its head above the fiscal waters. It wasn\'t that long ago when its shares were under 50 cents (now ~4.50).
Last I looked Mac users were 5 % or less of the personal computer market. And I would guess that there are a lot less MAC users percentage-wise compared to Windows users that are interested in betting horses. To me, it makes perfect sense for UBET to forego any investment in making their product MAC compatible at this time.
Perhaps, you should join the crowd and buy a Windows PC (basic models are under $500)so you to can utilize UBET\'s great product.
Good luck. Asfufh
John,
Neither does YouBet support the Firefox browser (one of the popular alternatives to Internet Explorer).
Mike
Asfufh, I admit that I\'m no longer in the trenches of a Macintosh-based software company like I once was. But the following is my opinion.
It\'s not a matter of any substantial investment. It\'s virtually the SAME investment to create for BOTH computer camps as it is to create for ONE of them. It\'s a matter of planning. And smarts.
For example, ThoroGraph made a decision to create their sheets downloads in the popular Adobe Acrobat format, which can be read by both IBM and Mac users. A very reasonable solution. They make one file which can be read by all! Wow! Smart move!
On the other hand, Ragozin [worried about copying? worried about something I\'m not privy to?] decided to split his sheets download creation modus operandi into two separate efforts such that he actually creates TWO separate sheets documents - one for IBM and another for Mac. [Does he still do this? Initially, they hired a guy to go to \"Mac school\" for a long time and they paid him to learn how to program for it. Why? Why the extra expense of this? Why didn\'t Ragozin settle on the simple popular over-the-counter elegant solution that ThoroGraph used?]
XPressBet merely has to stream their signal for Window Media Player CORRECTLY such that it\'s also compatible with THE MAC VERSION of Windows Media Player. I think this would take only a few hours of THE RIGHT GUY\'S time.
Same thing for Youbet. They and others have the SAME simple task. They\'re merely taking a video signal and spitting it out to their web site! Their main decision is WHAT FORMAT to spit it out to. If they decide to deliver it in Windows Media Player format [which can play to BOTH IBM and Mac users], there wouldn\'t be a problem. BrisBet has done this successfully.
PS - I agonized over getting the DISH network satellite dish and Magna\'s HRTV here in Manhattan [Time Warner country] for the purpose of getting GP and SA\'s signals this winter. But I cancelled it when I heard about the recent Magna pact with AmericaTab. I\'ll be using BrisBet to see video from these race venues.
JohnTChance
Its a tough problem for any software maker. There are probably as many Linux users as Mac now, should there be a Linux version too? I can see both sides of the argument, but the money side will always win out. Unless it can increase the bottom line, its probably not going to happen.
I\'m not a tekkie so don\'t know what\'s involved in making UBET fully accessible to Mac users. I did find this article about \"virtual pc\" software which supposedly easily allows a Mac or Linux user to run on a windows platform with an investment of ~$200:
http://aroundcny.com/technofile/texts/mac041404.html
.
The fact that Youbet doesn\'t support ANY browsers other than Internet Explorer is a major pain in the a**. I\'ve encountered so many problems with IE (security, stability (a BIG issue when using Youbet),speed,etc.) that I\'m considering dropping Youbet because it doesn\'t support alternative browsers.
Happy Holidays All,
Catalin
I went to check my balance after a pleasant and profitable day at crc not long after racing concluded this evening to see exactly how much I won today using those nice Thorograph Figure\'s and Data only to get the \" login failed \" screen on the Youbet site .
Additionally , the whole process of navigation on that site is to involved and very slow .
Youbet does offer some vg+++ feature\'s though , I do have to give them some credit for those things which they do well (becouse I am ripping them) like the wager log , track program + a couple other things like ie excellent customer service & easy viewing etc) after all it is Christmas and I don\'t want to Scrouge them too badly ...
Post Edited (12-27-04 00:14)
Marcus, I don\'t experience any of the problems that you describe like having to continually log in after making each wager and slow navigation and I use IE. I have been logged in to UBET for hours at a time with no problems. I do have a broadband connection and perhaps dial up doesn\'t work that well. If you are on dial up and are betting a fair amount on the ponies , I would strongly suggest you look into a broadband connection. Good luck, Asfufh
asfufh , You know it\'s quite possible I dialed in my handle and password incorrectly , it\'s happened before ...
Initially I thought the site closed for Christmas Eve - Sorry about that !
I\'m presently looking into wireless / broadband connections etc and plan to continue using youbet w / my dial up msn9 service in the meanwhile .
I\'ve logged in from my favorite internet cafe in nyc which does use broadband and the youbet.com site did perform quite well .