Slashdot Mirror
BBC "Not In Bed With Bill Gates"
whoever57 writes "The BBC's head of technology denied rumors that a secret deal with Microsoft was behind the XP-only launch of the BBC's iPlayer. According to Ashley Highfield, the reason that the player only supports Windows XP is that only a small number of Linux visitors have come to the BBC's website. Why he would expect a large number of Linux-based visitors to the site when the media downloads are Windows XP only is not clear. He also thinks that 'Launching a software service to every platform simultaneously would have been launch suicide,' despite the example of many major sites that support Linux (even if this is through the closed-source flash player)."
Hard to find a DRMed format to do that of course.
<sarcasm>
I mean, imagine... releasing content on the internet... Without DRM. It would be a catastrophy! It'd lead to chaos, anarchy, pigs flying, snowballs having a chance!
</sarcasm>
Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
It should be clarified that he was talking about the root bbc.co.uk site NOT the iPlayer site, so it is clearer why the would expect Linux users to visit the site.
Because if they had, it would have been perfectly clear that by "the BBC website" he meant bbc.co.uk, as that's actually part of the referenced quote. Given that the site is one of the most popular in the UK, and is used by people from all walks of life, I'd say that their OS usage stats stand fair chance of being representative of reality...
It's official. Most of you are morons.
iPlayer is based on Kontiki (owned by Verisign). Windows only, unless you're prepared to jump through virtual hoops, AFAIK. Reading through the user agreement: it's targeting UK-based computer users. Hmmm. Shall we build a Windows, Mac or Linux player? No-brainer, really, when the P2P distribution layer is Windows only.
When will people stop whining about iPlayer being XP only? There's no secret Microsoft alliance, and no great conspiracy.
The main reason why iPlayer uses Windows DRM is because the companies who produce content for the BBC didn't want their shows streamed without some kind of rights management, because, god forbid, it should end up on bit torrent. The cause of this is most likely ignorance on their part, because, as we all know, DRM stops piracy, saves lives, cures cancar and ends world famine.
The core code behind iPlayer is completely cross-browser, having worked on some of it, I know that it conforms to BBC New Media guidelines, which specifically state that all HTML, JavaScript, etc must be compatible with all major browsers (we even tested major elements of it in Firefox, and quite a few of the developers worked on Mac/Linux boxes)
There has always been a plan for a Mac/Linux version of iPlayer, but the current DRM requirements being imposed on the iPlayer Core team make it somewhat difficult for them to actually get working on it
The last time I spoke to anyone inside the BBC the backend servers for things like streaming audio (Real) were Linux. Not that it makes much different for your argument; with the volume of traffic that the BBC are encoding and streaming they're not relying on anything "free". They pay a lot of money to Real and a lot of money to Microsoft (They offer both Real & Windows Media streams) for the software to do it.
If you're interested, at least once apon-a-time, they even had a few FreeBSD machines doing some encoding and streaming.
I am just saying we do not have all the details and they probably had a good reason to not support Linux.
We do have all the details: they didn't support Linux because they needed[1] to wrap everything in DRM, and they claim that Windows Media is the only solution that allows them to do that. The problem with that argument is, well, it's crap. Flash can do cross-platform DRM'd media, for a start. Even Quicktime would have been a better choice than Windows Media[2]. So what we really appear to have is someone who chose Microsoft without any real technical evaluation, no concern for the BBCs own charter nor any oversight from anyone who cared. Now the people responsible are back-peddling and trying to make excuses for their decisions.
[1]: The requirement for blanket DRM is arguable, but not everything offered on iPlayer is wholly owned by the BBC so their hands are somewhat tied by the copyright holders.
[2]: At least Quicktime is available on Windows and OS X. Are DRM'd Windows Media files playable under OS X? I admit I don't know; I guess it's possible now I think about it. Can a Mac user confirm?
What about the .9 million people using macs then? 5% not enough?
Every experiment which ends in a big bang is a good experiment.
worry about one thing...the bottom line.
The BBC is a semi-independent government-funded agency, it does not have a "bottom line". It is a not-for-profit corporation.
Any organisation that complains about US$7 BILLION government funding being too small, clearly has big problems.
Andrew Oakley - www.aoakley.com
This man is clearly a small-minded idiot who the BBC should be ashamed to have on their staff. Frankly, I don't care a jot about support for Linux or Mac. That's not where I'm coming at this from. I'm coming at this from the simple tenets of the BBC's constitution, that "Nation shall speak peace unto nation". This is on the plaque outside Broadcasting House, the BBC main HQ. It's why the BBC has offices in eastern countries you've never heard of. It's why the BBC broadcasts programs for minorities. It doesn't say "Nation shall speak peace unto nation provided they're running a compatible operating system". That's like it saying, "National shall speak peace unto nations provided they have white skin", or "Nation shall speak peace unto nation provided they support the British government's war on terror". There are no bars here, for any reason, trivial or otherwise. It really is disgraceful that this man is in a position of power in the BBC. It shows how far standards have slipped in the BBC. The iPlayer project will very probably be cancelled anyway because another fuckwitt is running the BBC and has massively overstretched the organisation, so that it's now cutting back by billions of pounds. Generation X has all growed-up and they're simply not up to the job.
Not so. The Flash media server can do streaming content without FLVs (see Fabchannel.com, for example). Streaming-only media in an obscure, proprietary format is about as secure as it gets.
LOAD "SIG",8,1
Why is it unlikely that a niche operating system is used heavily in a niche company, and not everywhere else? Seems like you're getting statistics and probability confused.
For what it's worth, at one time part of my duties included analyzing logs for a heavily accessed government financial portal. We had three, yes, the number 3, total visits using Linux in a year. I'm pretty sure they were all me from a test machine, although I only remember going there twice.
Linux just isn't as popular as the people here want it to be. Instead of crowing how it must be a lie, try an figure out why, and change it.
No, Linux users are choosing to use Linux. Using Linux comes with some cost to the individual using it. Don't like, don't use Linux. Don't sit there and whine that you are not getting what you want and expect everyone to bend over backwards for you. Don't act like you are 20000 times more important than you really are.Funny, but 95% of the population seems like much of the people as reasonably possible.Then, you should, in the spirit of open source, volunteer to do the work for them.
In any case, you are just whining because the 5% that make up Mac users and the
You are a selfish brat. You want to be treated as special because of something you choose to do. If your choice should not effect what other people are required to do. Tell me, do you believe that because a few people choose to drink and drive that the rest of the population should be forced to stay off the road? Do you also believe that because a portion of the population chooses to smoke that smoking should be allowed everywhere including elementary schools, movie theaters, and hospitals?
You are not special. You do not have any special rights. No one should have to be forced to do something simply because you choose to be different.
Grow up and act like a responsible adult and live with the consequences of your decisions.
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/make_complaint_step1.shtml