BBC and microsoft sitting in a tree........

As you may know, the BBC iplayer will only work with windows XP.

Since the iplayer uses MS DRM, Linux and mac users will only get streaming flash movies from the BBC - no downloads of programs - and only after a big hoo ha.

Since the BBC has an technological agreement with Microsoft and has appointed Erik Huggers, Group Controller at BBC Future Media & Technology. Erik was previously Senior Director at Microsoft Corporation - responsable for windows media player. So don't expect a proper download version of iplayer on other platforms - unless the BBC can persuade MS to make its DRM work on os x- effectivelly making us second class citizens

There's a new e-pepition of the govt website.

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to raise the subject of the Microsoft BBC deal to parliment. More details

Submitted by John Lloyd – Deadline to sign up by: 03 July 2008 – Signatures: 390"

Get as many mac and linux heads ti sign as you can


http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/bbcmicrosoft/

Signed.

If will cancel my TV license if this goes ahead as planned, as I refuse to pay the same amount as others and be given a sub-standard service, particularly one tied to Microsoft technology. I hardly watch TV as it is, and there are plenty of ways of obtaining TV content, so why pay £13 a month just to fill this Huggers guy's pockets?

i think there is some irony that it is windows only, and it is called the iPlayer.

sorry i can't sign it though, mainly because i don't live in the UK and all that nonsense.

Signed and posted the same threat in a relevant facebook group

Signed, what a pain in the neck this is going to be until (or when) it gets fixed, so much for an independent BBC!

cheers

perhaps it sould be called "iplayer - windows XP edition"

or they can release several versions

iplayer - basic edition

iplayer - home edition

iplayer - professional edition

Sounds like a very bad business decision. Their loss...

knightlie said:

Signed.

If will cancel my TV license if this goes ahead as planned, as I refuse to pay the same amount as others and be given a sub-standard service, particularly one tied to Microsoft technology. I hardly watch TV as it is, and there are plenty of ways of obtaining TV content, so why pay £13 a month just to fill this Huggers guy's pockets?

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Well SirKnight, you should live in OZ as we don't have TV licences
The last government to even hint on a TV Licence was shocked to see there chances of election nose dived, they dropped it quick smart and even the opposition won't even mention it, sort of a No No

What is a tv license?

It's a noun.

There's no such thing as a "TV license".

It's called a TV licence.

OldVulpine said:

There's no such thing as a "TV license".

It's called a TV licence.

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Yeah, thanks for that.



The BBC is publicly-funded as oposed to being funded by advertisements. The amount they are allowed to charge is set by the government, so it's in the BBCs interest to make sure that their output is of a quality high enough that they are awarded the fee they ask for (they haven't been, which is why they are cutting jobs). IMO the BBC has a much higher quality than commercial TV as a result. Other channels simple have to pander to advertisers by outputting the most popular drivel they can, whereas the BBC is less obsessed with viewing figures.

As a licence payer, I want and deserve the same access to output as everyone else, and as a non-Windows XP-user (this isn't a Mac issue, this is a Microsoft one) I'm not getting it. Much as I'd hate to see a BBC funded by advertisements (commercial TV is abhorrent to anyone with an IQ over 90), I'm not prepared to pay for a substandard service, or a BBC run by ex-Microsoft executives.

babarnette said:

What is a tv license?

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i am also curious...

alright im confused. i kno bbc is british, and i dont watch it ( but i do love top gear) but whats the problem with the microsoft crap?

ki99 said:

i am also curious...

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It grants you a licence to use equipment capable of receiving TV. The fee funds the BBC as outlined above.

louishen said:

cheers

perhaps it sould be called "iplayer - windows XP edition"

or they can release several versions

iplayer - basic edition

iplayer - home edition

iplayer - professional edition

Click to expand...

Wait, didn't you forget the ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY "Home Basic" and "Home Premium" versions, sandwiched on either side of the "Home Edition"?

I wonder if Apple could sue for general brand infringement, given the use of "i" in "iPlayer", which I am sure is intentional, and designed to confuse people into thinking that some of that Apple / iPod goodness is involved?

knightlie said:

Yeah, thanks for that.



The BBC is publicly-funded as oposed to being funded by advertisements. The amount they are allowed to charge is set by the government, so it's in the BBCs interest to make sure that their output is of a quality high enough that they are awarded the fee they ask for (they haven't been, which is why they are cutting jobs). IMO the BBC has a much higher quality than commercial TV as a result. Other channels simple have to pander to advertisers by outputting the most popular drivel they can, whereas the BBC is less obsessed with viewing figures.

Click to expand...

So is the ABC in OZ! and we have top rate shows, but we still don't pay for a TV License/Liecence