Slashdot Mirror
BBC Clock Inaccurate - 100 Days To Fix?
mikejuk writes "The BBC home page has just lost its clock because the BBC Trust upheld a complaint that it was inaccurate. The clock would show the current time on the machine it was being viewed on and not an accurate time as determined by the BBC. However, the BBC have responded to the accusations of inaccuracy by simply removing the clock stating that it would take 100 staffing days to fix. It further says: 'Given the technical complexities of implementing an alternative central clock, and the fact that most users already have a clock on their computer screen, the BBC has taken the decision to remove the clock from the Homepage in an upcoming update.' They added, '...the system required to do this "would dramatically slow down the loading of the BBC homepage", something which he said was "an issue of great importance to the site's users".
Secondly, if the site moved to a format in which users across the world accessed the same homepage, irrespective of whichever country they were in, it would be "impossible to offer a single zonally-accurate clock."'"
Seems simple until you start working through it. First you have to start tracking every goofy fall/spring variation in the world so you don't display a time that's an hour early or late. Then, do you just trust that the user has the correct time zone entered on their computer? Maybe they're travelling 3 time zones away. Do you use ip geolocation to get their approximate physical location and display that time? Say you do that. What if they're in NYC and surfing through their company VPN in Los Angeles? I guess on a tablet or phone, you might be able to get the location from the GPS. Wating for location fix...waiting for location fix...waiting for location fix.
At some point during the discussions, someone pointed out that it's a silly thing to worry about since any device accessing their website already has the time displayed or available at the gesture of a mouse or finger.
The situation is crazy and I have every sympathy with the Beeb. The clock design itself is very nostalgic for those of us of a certain age who have grown up with the BBC. They naturally created a simple clock that reflects the user's local time. A handful of morons who cannot set their computer's clock properly complained that the BBC's clock was inaccurate. The BBC cannot be expected to implement a global solution which cannot rely on the local host having any accurate time information and takes into account time zones, geographical location etc even if the issue of running an accurate server-synchronised clock is trivial. Also note that everything they do is heavily scrutinised by rabid right-wing politicians and licence-fee payers. My only gripe with the Beeb is that that it's acquiesced to these stupid complaints and withdrawn the clock rather than telling the complainants where to go.
I think most would consider the licence fee a sort of tax.
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