The BBC iPlayer 'launch' that wasn't
,----[ Quote ]
| The "open beta" launch of the BBC's on demand service on Friday has left many
| licence fee-payers frustrated, as downloads of the iPlayer are still strictly
| limited.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/31/iplayer_launch_frustration/
Related:
BBC iPlayer: More bugs than a door mat
,----[ Quote ]
| I just found my invite to the new BBC iPlayer beta service. I got very
| excited to (finally!) be part of a major piece of online video history and
| man oh man is it bad. It’s so bad, it makes Windows 3.11 look awesome.
`----
http://ekstreme.com/thingsofsorts/fun-web/bbc-iplayer-more-bugs-than-a-door-mat
Quick review of BBC iPlayer
,----[ Quote ]
| I’ll give it a year before I’m writing a “told you so” entry on here about
| how the BBC are handing control for the on-line distribution of their
| invaluable archive over to Microsoft.
`----
http://howgoodisthis.wordpress.com/2007/07/30/quick-review-of-bbc-iplayer/
BBC iPlayer - Review
,----[ Quote ]
| Anyway, those are my views on the iPlayer. I’ve broadly covered the DRM
| controversy before but when you see it in action, it’s not only terrible on a
| freedom of use level, but also on usability level. If you have any questions
| or views, drop them in the comments. And before you ask, I don’t have any
| invites to give away.
`----
http://www.oakinnovations.co.uk/blog/2007/07/31/bbc-iplayer-review/
BBC Why-player
,----[ Quote ]
| The BBC’s new lemon iPlayer launched yesterday and I’m one of the first folk
| to be using it. Privileged? I don’t think so.
|
| Whoever created this piece of rubbish should be ashamed of themselves.
|
| The obvious lack of bookmarking or series-stacking feature has been well
| documented, but it’s only now that the software is available that we can see
| how unfriendly the experience is for the poor licence fee payer.
`----
http://www.jnlonline.co.uk/wordpress/?p=41
BBC iPlayer beta shuns Vista and Macs
http://www.vnu.co.uk/vnunet/news/2195167/bbc-iplayer-shuns-vista-macs
BBC opens iPlayer beta
http://www.absolutegadget.com/news/television/bbc-opens-iplayer-beta-20070727-672.html
BBC iPlayer beta arrives; 10,000 people complain to Gordon Brown
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070727-bbc-iplayer-beta-arrives-10000-people-complain-to-gordon-brown.html
BBC Corrupted
,----[ Quote ]
| Today the BBC made it official -- they have been corrupted by Microsoft. With
| today's launch of the iPlayer, the BBC Trust has failed in its most basic of
| duties and handed over to Microsoft sole control of the on-line distribution
| of BBC programming. From today, you will need to own a Microsoft operating
| system to view BBC programming on the web. This is akin to saying you must
| own a Sony TV set to watch BBC TV. And you must accept the Digital
| Restrictions Management (DRM) that the iPlayer imposes. You simply cannot be
| allowed to be in control of your computer according to the BBC.
`----
http://defectivebydesign.org/blog/BBCcorrupted
EC threat to BBC over downloads
,----[ Quote ]
| However, OSC disagrees and says the next step is to make a formal
| complaint to the European Commission (EC).
|
| "We're preparing the full details at the moment and we will be
| sending a formal letter within the next week," said Mr Taylor.
`----
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6236612.stm
Open sourcers rattle EU sabre at BBC on demand player
,----[ Quote ]
| The BBC is being threatened with an anti-trust challenge in Europe over its
| use of the Windows Media format in its on demand service, iPlayer, which is
| in the final stages of testing.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/22/iplayer_osc_eu_ofcom/
Free the BBC
,----[ Quote ]
| We are deeply concerned about the BBC's use of "Digital Rights
| Management" (DRM) to manage content delivered to users over the
| Internet. There are dozens of arguments against DRM, however we
| believe these are the most important and relevant to the BBC.
`----
http://www.freethebbc.info/node/5
MPs rap BBC over Siemens deal
,----[ Quote ]
| But public spending watchdog the PAC said BBC executives misled the board
| of governors about possible savings while trying to convince them to give
| the deal the go-ahead.
|
| The committee of MPs found £60m of costs was excluded when budgets were
| put to the governors for approval.
|
| [...]
|
| The PAC said the BBC was failing to manage the contract properly.
|
| [...]
|
| The report suggests the BBC should open up its accounts to government
| officials for proper scrutiny.
`----
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/06/29/pac_bbc_siemens/
BBC Trust chairman scuppered by Skype
,----[ Quote ]
| The BBC has gone into a massive navel gazing operation after an internal
| investigation that revealed it had made quite a few mistakes.
|
| Naturally every hack+dog on the British national press is weighing in
| describing it as a scandal, a "breach of trust" and the rest.
|
| [...]
|
| ohn Humphreys, the interviewer, proceeded to explain that the chairman was
| using something called Skype. Sort of re-assuring that the BBC Trust isn't
| wasting licence payers' money though.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=41100
Save the BBC from Windows DRM!
,----[ Quote ]
| Clearly, shutting out 25% of your audience sits ill with the BBC's
| remit of serving all of its users...
|
| There is no denying that this is an extremely difficult area for
| the BBC, since it must negotiate not one but three minefields -
| those of technology standards, copyright and contract law. But
| there are still things that it could do without turning into a
| global advertisement for Microsoft's flawed DRM approach.
`----
http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1000183
BBC plans to lock viewers into Microsoft monopoly says Open Source Consortium
,----[ Quote ]
| The Open Source Consortium (OSC) believes the plans are anti-competitive
| and will use public money to lock viewers into the technologies of
| a repeatedly convicted monopolist.
`----
http://www.publictechnology.net/article_avantgo.php?sid=7655
Beeb slammed for 'fawning' to Bill Gates
,----[ Quote ]
| BBC viewers have flooded the corporation with complaints over how it
| covered the launch of Microsoft Vista earlier this week.
|
| In one cringingly servile interview worthy of Uriah Heep, the
| Beeb's news presenter Hugh Edwards even thanked Gates at the
| end of it, presumably in appreciation at being allowed to give
| the Vole vast coverage for free.
|
| In other TV news items presenters excitedly explained how Vistac
| ould be obtained and installed - details courtesy of the BBC's
| website.
|
| But British viewers, currently forced to pay a £131.50 licence
| fee to maintain the BBC's "impartiality", were less than impressed.
|
| Scores got in touch to complain that so much was Auntie up Bill's
| bum that you could barely see her corset.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37411
http://slated.org/bbc_microsoft_bias
Brits! Act now to save the BBC from Microsoft
,----[ Quote ]
| The BBC are holding an open consultation regarding how they're
| going to delivery on-demand content, they want answers to
| questions like: "How important is it that the proposed seven-day
| catch-up service over the internet is available to consumers who
| are not using Microsoft software?"
`----
http://www.boingboing.net/2007/01/31/brits_act_now_to_sav.html
Beeb breaks out with Windows WMA protection
,----[ Quote ]
| According to a press release from Sonos, the blokes over
| at the Beeb have decided to jump ship for relying on
| Realplayer for web content, and have switched over
| entirely to the Windows-friendly WMA format. Now
| that the BBC has made The Big Switch, BBC radio
| stations will be received automatically for users
| of wireless music and radio provider Sonos.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=35282
Avoid the Vista badge, it means DRM inside
,----[ Quote ]
| The root of this crappy DRM infection is Microsoft. It is the driving
| force here. This has nothing to do with protecting content, as we
| keep pointing out, there has never been a single thing that has had
| a DRM infection applied that didn't end up cracked on the net in
| hours. DRM is about walled gardens and control.
|
| He who controls the DRM infection controls the market. DRM is
| about preventing you from doing anything with the devices
| without paying the gatekeeper a fee. This is what MS wants,
| nothing less than a slice of everything watched, listened to
| or discussed from now on. DRM prevents others from playing
| there, thanks to the DMCA and other anti-consumer laws.
|
| Make no mistake, MS is pushing the DRM malware as hard as
| it can so it can rake in money hand over fist with no
| competition. It is really good at lock-in, in fact, the firm
| based its entire business model on harming the user so they
| have to comply and spend more.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=38926
Microsoft Tells Apple To Stop Complaining About DRM
http://www.podcastingnews.com/2007/04/13/microsoft-apple-drm/
Microsoft launches 'PlayReady' DRM system
,----[ Quote ]
| Although digital rights management (DRM) is popular with content
| creators, it has attracted criticism. Sony was widely attacked after
| using a rootkit-like application to hide content protection on some
| music CDs, and earlier this month Apple CEO Steve Jobs called on
| the music industry to drop its use of DRM.
`----
http://news.com.com/2100-1039_3-6158553.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news
Golden Rant : Microsoft DRM's gone too far
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft appears to have hit the wrong button on its critical
| Windows XP download service late last month, pretty well forcing
| every XP user to upgrade to Windows Media Player (WiMP) 11 if
| they (like me and many others) have the automatic download/install
| option enabled for critical updates.
`----
http://securityblog.itproportal.com/?p=712
The Longest Suicide Note in History
,----[ Quote ]
| Gutmann: The genie's out of the bottle before the operating system has even
| been released! But that doesn't mean Vista users in particular - and
| the computer community at large - won't end up paying for Microsoft's
| DRM folly. At the risk of repeating myself repeating myself, yet
| another reason to move to Linux.
`---- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/tux-love/2007/01/the_longest_suicide_note_in_hi.html
DRM in Windows Vista
,----[ Quote ]
| Windows Vista includes an array of "features" that you don't want.
| These features will make your computer less reliable and less secure.
| They'll make your computer less stable and run slower. They will
| cause technical support problems. They may even require you to
| upgrade some of your peripheral hardware and existing software.
| And these features won't do anything useful. In fact, they're
| working against you. They're digital rights management (DRM)
| features built into Vista at the behest of the entertainment
| industry.
|
| And you don't get to refuse them.
`----
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/02/drm_in_windows.html
|
|
