Bravo to ITV for dumping Microsoft's Silverlight for Adobe's Flash. It's a move which should see the online ITV Player available to many more, including those with PowerPC Macs, myself included, which Silverlight 2 doesn't support.
Even on an Intel based Mac, compared to BBC iPlayer, Channel 4's 4oD on-demand service and five's Demand Five, ITV Player seemed sluggish, occasionally unresponsive.
While if I ever see Katie Price again it will be soon, having the option to catch up via ITV Player should be a painless process. The service offers a few hidden gems - mainly via the archives - amongst the mainstream mix of reality shows, soaps and dramas.
ITV announced the move from Silverlight to Flash on their Twitter page on Tuesday: "As you've probably gathered, we're now using Flash on our site rather than Silverlight."
The move hasn't been an easy one. "There are a few videos that aren't working (we've had to transfer a huge amount of video into the new system) and we're working on this," ITV announced on Twitter.
"We're only a small team though, so this will take time - sorry if vids aren’t available, we ARE working on it! Thanks for your patience ☺"
More formally, an ITV spokeswoman added: "ITV continues to use Microsoft's products extensively to develop and deliver solutions to our viewers."
Let's hope those solutions include Macs in the equation. ITV's use of Silverlight has been an unwelcome flashback to the bad old days when buying a Mac meant having to make do or do without certain services or applications enjoyed by PC users.
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