Linux Users Enjoy The Inauguration Thanks To ... Microsoft?

The bad news for Linux users: Obama's 2009 inauguration ceremony is being Webcast -- but only for those with the Microsoft Silverlight plugin. The good news: Microsoft to the rescue. Say what? Yes.

Over at Miguel de Icaza's blog -- he of Mono fame -- there's word of how the Moonlight plugin (Silverlight for Linux) was ready to rock for the official inauguration video stream. Apparently folks at Microsoft sweated blood to make this work in time for the inauguration.

Not unusual at all, if you ask me. Microsoft has all the reasons in the world to make Silverlight available on as many platforms as possible -- it's part of their play to make Microsoft products that much less platform-dependent, especially in an age when the platform itself is turning into a cloud.