BBC Offers iPhone Version of iPlayer, Accessible to Linux Users Too

smallfries writes "After a long battle with Linux users in the UK, the BBC was forced into releasing a flash version of the iPlayer streaming service to fulfill their obligations to license-fee payers. After claiming that development of Linux and Mac versions of the iPlayer would take two years, Auntie Beeb has rushed to support the iPhone. iPhone users 'can be trusted' because their platform is locked down ... so the beeb opened a non-DRM hole in the iPlayer to support them. This was guarded by the extreme security of User Agent strings! Long story short, Linux and Mac users have made their own non-DRM, non-Microsoft platform from firebug and wget. UK users can now watch (and keep) their favorite BBC shows."

Comments

Why did the iPhone 'force' the BBCs hand?

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

There's numerous other devices that would have benefited from a DRM-free iPlayer stream - why'd the iPhone deserve this special treatment?

Re:You're wrong, I have the real reason

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

Yeah, you got it, everyone who has an iPhone is shallow.

I actually said the inverse - that many shallow people like iPhones. This is true for many good products - nothing for you to get upset about.

I won't comment on the rest of your post, as it's based on that faulty premise. Thanks for playing however.