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Canada's CBC - Powered By OSS

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the only-makes-sense dept.

Otter Escaping North writes "Blake Crosby's Under the Hood column on CBC's website recently discussed how almost the entire site is powered by open source software. It's great to see a government-funded agency making frugal technology decisions, and even better to see them trumpeting the benefits of doing so."

47 comments

  1. McAfee says... by TheAtomicElec · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    CBC a leading user of BotNet software.

    McAfee silliness

    1. Re:McAfee says... by JordanL · · Score: 1

      You know, I'm wondering why Timmy felt this should be placed under "BSD" simply because their mailservers are run on BSD...

      --
      FanFictionRecs.net
  2. Bah. Ogg streaming? by penguinstorm · · Score: 1, Troll

    Yes, it's nice to see Open Source Software being used -- not becuase it's free and I don't want my tax dollars going to waste, but because it does the job better.

    But seriously...Windows Media for streaming? That's not open. It doesn't even work well.

    And Ogg as the only alternative, in limited numbers?

    Gimme a break. Give us a platform independent technology neutral streaming solution. MP3 would even be fine -- it might not be the best solution, but it is the lingua franca of the encoded music world at the moment.

    --
    Skot Nelson music is my saviour / i was maimed by rock and roll
    1. Re:Bah. Ogg streaming? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The CBC offers a lot of video content and the only widespread streaming solutions when it comes to video are offers from companies such as Microsoft and Apple. It's only normal to use the same technology for their audio and video needs. That way, visitors only need one client application.

    2. Re:Bah. Ogg streaming? by xa0s · · Score: 2, Informative

      bah.. streaming is SOOooo 20th century. Podcasts baby! (in AAC)

      http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/

      No Windows Media required

    3. Re:Bah. Ogg streaming? by penguinstorm · · Score: 1

      Podcasts indeed. CBC podcasts fill much of my iPod. Now I just want the Sunday Edition every week. (I am, after all, already paying for it with my tax dollars...I might as well be able to listen to it at my convenience....all 3 hours.)

      --
      Skot Nelson music is my saviour / i was maimed by rock and roll
  3. Now for the media content by bignickel · · Score: 5, Informative

    As a Canadian taxpayer I'm thrilled to see so much OSS in use at the CBC. Now they just need to focus on non-proprietary file formats for their content (Windows Media is still king - at least for my regional radio). However, Ogg is an option for the national radio broadcast, and the always excellent Radio 3 Podcast. Now, we only need to get rid of Freestyle...

    1. Re:Now for the media content by SpannerX · · Score: 1

      Oh, god, yes. That show must go away. I thought the Round up was bad. This is much worse.

    2. Re:Now for the media content by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Now if only radio3.cbc.ca (Microsoft-IIS/6.0, ASP.NET) could break the damn flash habit they'd be fine.

      Also, www.cbc.ca (Apache/1.3.29 (Linux/SUSE) mod_gzip/1.3.26.1a mod_jk/1.2.6-dev) has changed dramatically in the last year, the page is now dominated by advertisements where previously there were none, and at the expense of content. It has lost the professional look it had, it now gives the impression of something like an ISP homepage instead of a national news agency.

      Also an auto refresh on a main page is a really bad idea. I'll reload the content when I choose to thanks. A year or two ago they merged their Science section into their Health section - bye bye quality science journalism, I don't care about every little bogus money making scheme of the health industry, I want to see real science stories.

      [rant]Same thing happening to Discovery's Daily Planet with Jay Ingram (former CBC radio guy) when they foisted off Natasha Stillwell on the show to give it that pop science edge to appeal to women and children.

      David Suzuki is treated as some kind of eco-terrorist now... The modern media is in dire need of some quality science journalism, when Newscientist and Nature are considered authoritative sources, the end is near. Damn it, maybe I should just go start my own real science news site that is not driven by populism.[/rant]

      I applaud the use of FreeBSD-Postfix mailservers, but stuff like Tomcat (java is evil) and Wordpress (cookie-cutter insecure cms) make me want to puke.

    3. Re:Now for the media content by tqk · · Score: 1
      Now, we only need to get rid of Freestyle...
      ... And CBC TV, the CRTC, Red Green, Canadian Idol, ... :-P All so embarassing.
      --
      "Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit ..." -- Pink Floyd.
    4. Re:Now for the media content by smartin · · Score: 1

      Sadly the ogg stream for Radio2 has been broken for a very long time.

      --
      The difference between Canada and the USA is that in Canada healthcare is a right and gun ownership is a privilege.
    5. Re:Now for the media content by Aidski · · Score: 1

      Agreed. Especially about the Freestyle. Why must 2-4 pm be the time of pain and misery on Canadian radio?

    6. Re:Now for the media content by penguinstorm · · Score: 1

      The only kingdom ruled by Windows Media is built on a crumbling foundation.

      Microsoft has never been a leader is streaming, and they certainly aren't now.

      Radio 3 streams in MP3 and is available through iTunes (as well as a number of other ways.) It's also not "always excellent": sometimes Grant Lawrence hosts it.

      --
      Skot Nelson music is my saviour / i was maimed by rock and roll
  4. The fact that the CBC uses OSS..... by 8127972 · · Score: 4, Informative

    ...... Likely has more to do with their lack of funding:

    http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.h tml?id=b07beeab-4ad7-4fba-a2d7-f223bc16cd70&k=5921 2

    --
    This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
    1. Re:The fact that the CBC uses OSS..... by Kimos · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Or they'd just rather spend the funding they do have on content and journalists, rather than software...

      IMHO what makes this interesting isn't money, it's that a huge technology-centric organization like the CBC can use OSS and that it works great!

    2. Re:The fact that the CBC uses OSS..... by crossmr · · Score: 1

      Bingo. They've been threatened with cut off several times I believe.

    3. Re:The fact that the CBC uses OSS..... by Otter+Escaping+North · · Score: 1
      Bingo. They've been threatened with cut off several times I believe.

      The threats are never really all that serious - but they haven't had an increase in a really long time.

      But then that's one of the things I really liked to hear - when pressed to be frugal, they used free software to do the work that it was perfectly capable of doing. Most of my career has been in start-up companies, and you wouldn't believe how often they take the seed money and start spending it on Exchange, and ClearCase, and Oracle, and...

      I mean, these high-tech startups are beeing out-geeked by the CBC?!?! It turned my world over a little.

      --
      Running Windows^H^H^H^H^H^H^H OSX and Linux in the home. (I don't have time for Solitaire any more.)
    4. Re:The fact that the CBC uses OSS..... by crossmr · · Score: 1

      well CBC does have that cool ZedTV show..or they used to.

    5. Re:The fact that the CBC uses OSS..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      well CBC does have that cool ZedTV show..or they used to.


      It was too bad they only distributed content in the Quicktime virus format. I often wanted to see the stuff they posted but 90% of it was .mov files and I'll never install the Quicktime virus. I even wrote them a letter to ask them to look at using standard formats like mpeg so I could view their programming without handing over my PC to Apple malware.

      If they're not around anymore its probably because being almost exclusively quicktime killed them. Nobody wants to install malware just to view some alternative videos.
  5. Hardly Praise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Let's consider the source... It's the CBC. they have one of the lowest ratings of all networks in Canada. They lost the bid to broadcast the 2010 Olympics (which are in Canada), they lost the rights to broadcast the Briar (Curling). Their last truly big hit was "The Beachcombers", or at least nothing has come close since. (Maybe "Corner Gas" will do it).

      - I would be hard pressed to count this as praise for OSS when the CBC has no idea what they're doing in almost every other department.

    1. Re:Hardly Praise by Goose42 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yes, overall the CBC's ratings are lower than other Canadian networks, but the CBC has a drastically different audience than any other Canadian network. Would CTV or Global air something like The Nature Of Things (one of the greatest science documentary shows ever created) during primetime? Or spend the money to make it in HD? Hell no. Does any other major corporate network (radio, TV, or otherwise) give a crap about independant music in Canada? Hell no. But the CBC does, and the massive success of the Radio 3 podcast is proof of that. Its not so much a corporate network as it is a public service. Being that they're partially funded by tax money, they have a duty to give to the widest possible base of viewers. Even though they're loading up on the reality shows, they're still dedicated to The Nature Of Things and their documentaries (hell, they even have a whole cable channel dedicated to them).

      As well, CBC News is still considered to be some of the best in the business. CBC Newsworld is by far the best news channel I've ever seen, and George Stromboulopoulos's The Hour is truly amazing.

      While they may be losing out on some major bids due to lack of funds, that doesn't really matter as much to the CBC as it would to a completely corporate network, because the advertising dollar isn't their sole bottom line.

      As for Corner Gas, that's CTV, not CBC.

    2. Re:Hardly Praise by B3ryllium · · Score: 1

      I think Corner Gas is a CTV program.

    3. Re:Hardly Praise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Trying to be popular is not, or at least should not be CBC's major concern. Nor should popularity be the metric by which it is judged. CBC is a public broadcaster. Part of its purpose is provide valuable content that would not necessarily survive commercially. They used to be really good at this. Lately though..... I don't know about this "The One" crap. Commercial television does a good enough job of foisting shitty brain wasting reality shows on us already.

    4. Re:Hardly Praise by hey! · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I don't know about CBC, but you could say similar things about public television in the US, which is mainly privately funded. Public TV doesn't have the ratings.

      But...

      Most of the innovation in television programming in the US comes out of PBS.

      Would there be a cooking channel without Julia Child? Home improvement shows without This Old House and Crockett's Victory Garden? The History Channel without a long tradition of shows like The American Experience and of course Ken Burns Civil war? A Disocvery Channel without Nova? Even reality TV shows have their origins in public broadcasting (albeit the PBS versions were considerably more high brow).

      Sure, you may like Discovery Channel better than Nova (I don't), but the fact is people don't invest in something like that until the know it's going to be popular.

      Somebody has to dare to be unpopular, even if it's because they're stuffy and pretentious.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    5. Re:Hardly Praise by Citizen+of+Earth · · Score: 1
      The Nature Of Things (one of the greatest science documentary shows ever created)

      The series should have been renamed to "Here's Another Endangered Species; Oh, How Foolish We Are!". I'm not sure if there were any episodes with a different theme.

      As for Corner Gas, that's CTV, not CBC.

      It's too bad that the second season has almost zero laughs.

      The only Can-Con that was on my must-watch list was Traders.

    6. Re:Hardly Praise by Goose42 · · Score: 1

      The last three episodes I watched of The Nature Of Things consisted firstly of a two-parter on the history of the human species, complete from ancient ape to modern sapiens, complete with a ton of incredibly well done re-enactments. The third episode (which aired last night) was a history of Tibetan medicine and the role it is now taking in modern Tibetan society, including how it incorporates practices from western medicine to produce the best health-care possible.

      No endangered species there. While Suzuki may be an environmental activist, he knows he can't be preachy, and that there's much much more to the modern world than just disappearing animals and icebergs.

      Even though I'm from Saskatchewan, I have to admit that I don't watch that much Corner Gas. I really should watch more, its all funny because its all true.

    7. Re:Hardly Praise by softcoder · · Score: 1

      Dont confuse CBC TV with CBC Radio.
      CBC TV is abysmal.
      CBC Radio is highly regarded.
      Whenever funding cuts to the CBC are proposed, it is the fans of the radio network that rally to its support, usually with some success.
      But CBC management don't get it of course. Radio has no prestige for them, so they spend 90% of their budget on what people don't want (TV) and almost none on what people do want (Radio).

    8. Re:Hardly Praise by codemachine · · Score: 1

      Rumour is that TSN is gunning hard for NHL rights next time around too. Losing "Hockey Night in Canada" would be a huge blow to CBC, as it is by far their most watched show, and biggest money maker as far as advertising goes.

      Losing the Olympics hurt big time too, though it hard to win bids when the biggest two commercial competitors, Bell (CTV/TSN) and Rogers (SportsNet), team up to bid against you. Funny how the CRTC made Bell sell SportsNet when they bought TSN so that they wouldn't have a monopoly on sports channels, yet they basically operate as one channel during the World Cup and Olympics.

      I think amateur sports will be hurt more than anyone if CBC goes down the tubes. Actually, they're already hurting for coverage, since CBC basically covers these throughout the year in anticipation of the Olympics. Without the big payoff of the Olypmics, why cover the little events?

      I think a lot of people lose out when CBC loses and big business wins. Big business is what brings us reality TV, unoriginal MPAA movies and RIAA music, and Windows. Public broadcasting has the freedom to be different. OSS is a perfect fit for them, both in price and philosphy.

    9. Re:Hardly Praise by Westacular · · Score: 1

      Amen! CBC TV almost never interests me, but I am consistently impressed with the quality and entertainingness of CBC Radio.

      To put it another way: CBC TV makes me bored with Canada, while CBC Radio makes me fascinated by and in love with my country.

      My biggest complaint is that they don't have more podcasts on their website.

    10. Re:Hardly Praise by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't watch CTV or CBC. So it doesn't phase me one way or another if Corner Gas is on either or both or none of them. I would rather read /. their sci-con or comp-con beats can-con any day. ;)

    11. Re:Hardly Praise by whitehatlurker · · Score: 1

      It is.

      --
      .. paranoid crackpot leftover from the days of Amiga.
  6. Good. by ninja_assault_kitten · · Score: 2, Funny

    Good, maybe they'll have some money to devote to content.

    1. Re:Good. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Now they'll be able to pay Jurgen Goth what he deserves!

  7. I don't believe it by 0racle · · Score: 2, Funny

    There would be no way to verify the x% required Canadian content. If its not 15% Canadian crap, it can't be on the CBC.

    --
    "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
    1. Re:I don't believe it by jason+ward · · Score: 1

      Maybe they're using Open BSD on the backend ;)

      --
      Bloggy Goodness
    2. Re:I don't believe it by Citizen+of+Earth · · Score: 1

      The most damnable thing about Can-Con... is that it worked.

    3. Re:I don't believe it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Clearly, you're forgetting the amount of work Theo de Raadt, an Albertan, puts into OpenBSD.

    4. Re:I don't believe it by penguinstorm · · Score: 1

      I like how you called Theo an "Albertan."

      Reminds me of the heady days when I was young of separatist debates between Trudeau an dLevesque. Levesque always refered to himself as a Quebecer, not a Canadian.

      I suspect Alberta will do the same, at least until the oil is too hard to extract from the tar sands.

      --
      Skot Nelson music is my saviour / i was maimed by rock and roll
  8. Netcraft confirms ... by laffer1 · · Score: 1

    they have a great mail server. Its a bit funny they picked FreeBSD over OpenBSD considering OpenBSD is canadian. (well theo is anyway)

    I found the story a bit odd to post though. Most websites run on apache which is free/oss. The default case is free software for all websites (and open source). Wouldn't it be interesting to talk about why 30% of the web chooses closed source software for their webservers instead?

    --
    MidnightBSD: The BSD for Everyone
  9. /., are you confused? by tqk · · Score: 1

    From the /. Main Page listing this item: "12 of 9 comments". What?

    --
    "Tongue tied and twisted, just an Earth bound misfit ..." -- Pink Floyd.
  10. All right! by FlyByPC · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Any site that not only uses open-source, but has cool games like Sushi Samurai is OK in my book!

    (...even if the game is a shameless clone of BurgerTime with different sprites. Using Wasabi as a weapon is just too cool for words.)

    --
    Paleotechnologist and connoisseur of pretty shiny things.
  11. Not doing a particularly good job... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Consider: Radio One... Ogg Vorbis streaming, OK if you like the Toronto orientation.
                        Radio Two... Ogg Vorbis broken for months now... technical difficulties (!?)
                        All local radio programmes in Windows media format...

                        TV News: The National, Newsworld... very good programmes, but why only in
                                          Real media, and not Ogg Theora?

    It must have been a slow news day for this to have made Slashdot...

  12. So? by SanityInAnarchy · · Score: 1

    Why can't that one clinet application be VLC? Which doesn't work well with Windows Media, by the way, especially on a Mac.

    --
    Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
    1. Re:So? by penguinstorm · · Score: 1

      Exactly my point, and my original post was not a troll. The CBC is a public broadcaster and should NOT be excluding the Mac or Linux using public from their streams.

      Sure there's a compatible player now, but Windows Streaming Media is NOT going to last for other platforms.

      Quicktime would have been a better choice, even, as it supports a large number of "open" codecs. Vidoe's could be streamed as MPEG and audio could be streamed as MP3 (or MP4 and AAC or any of a number of other more widely available formats.)

      The Darwin streaming media server would have been a decent platform to build on. Freely available.

      Those tax dollars could have gone somewhere other than Redmond, even if they went to Redmond via Toronto first.

      --
      Skot Nelson music is my saviour / i was maimed by rock and roll
  13. CBC pretty good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    CBC has really outstanding programming - even though most of it is not able to compete with the ratings of the offer from commercial broadcasters, which is in huge part simply running the most popular American shows, or some Canadian version of them. CBC has several programs, which can only be made by using tax payers money, simply, because some programs talk to a special segment of the audience.

    By the way, in Canada probably all shows, even the ones, created by private broadcasters are supported by tax payers money, due to the Canadian government's tax credit program.

  14. The CBC's shame. by Eric+S.+Smith · · Score: 1
    If its not 15% Canadian crap, it can't be on the CBC.

    Yes, it's so embarassing — they're way behind the 75%-95% crap level of commercial radio.

    --
    Mind the Gap