Open Source TV

Lish writes "Everyone's favorite tech prognosticator, Robert X Cringely, is going to do a TV show called 'NerdsTV.' It will be available on the web and playable on pretty much any system. The cool part is, they will provide three video versions: one geared at techies, one for suits, and one with all the raw footage so you can edit your own version to your heart's content. There will also be audio-only versions in Ogg and Mp3. All of this is freely redistributable."

Comments

Life

[manon]

OK, that's it... there goes my social life (or the bit I had left)

Re:i don't get it?

[akb]

Yes, GPL includes rights that PBS does not normally grant, namely you can redistribute and edit or make derivative works. No show that I am aware of grants these rights.

You don't seem impressed with the rights so I'll explain a little more.

Redistribution - A show runs on PBS once or twice and might never run again or disappear from their website. You may have made a personal copy for yourself but most people will not have done that so it effectively disappears. With the right to redistribute it doesn't disappear.

Editing - the examples of editing you gave aren't very compelling from the creative perspective. More interesting is using excerpts in another work, finding footage is one of the hardest things about video production.

For more in depth explanation of the GPL see the philosphy section of the Free Software Foundation Website.

I do share your scepticism about this being a buzz kind thinig because they are only releasing shows in 120kbps, not even VHS quality. That limits its usefulness significantly.