I was thrilled to bring you the news that you will be able to watch Olympic events on your laptop, and even download them for later watching offline. And all for free.

And then I read the announcement more carefully. The system is available only to users of Vista. No Macs need apply, nor Linux users, nor even other Windows versions, like us XP users who are hanging in there as long as possible.

David Chartier at Ars Technica explains it all. Dang.

No word yet on NBC's plans for Olympics coverage adapted to mobile platforms like iPods and video players. But surely there will be some? Won't there?