BBC loses 97200 Linux users
,----[ Quote ]
| "We have 17.1 million users of bbc.co.uk in the UK and, as far as our server
| logs can make out, 5 per cent of those [use Macs] and around 400 to 600 are
| Linux users" Highfield is quoted as saying.
`----
http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry1781.html
Add Mr. Ashley Highfield to the list of Microsoft shills. He has joined the
ranks of Enderle, Maureen O'Gara, and the Yankee Group. Anything he says is
totally worthless. Highfield is a _technology chief_, so he can't argue that
he didn't know what he was talking about. Propanganda at its best.
Wired gets slammed as well:
Wired Magazine “Doesn’t Get It”
,----[ Quote ]
| The world has been brainwashed by the concepts of “Intellectual Property” far
| too long, and this line has proven the point exactly.
`----
http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry1781.html
Related:
Stallman Schools Me on "IP"
,----[ Quote ]
| "Intellectual property" is such a loaded term because it carries with it all
| the positive associations that "property" enjoys, at least in modern American
| society. That's why those among us who control the most stuff use it so
| aggressively.
`----
http://www.nancyscola.com/2007/10/stallman_schools_me_on_ip.html
Confused BBC tech chief: Only 600 Linux users visit our website
,----[ Quote
| Ooops. Highfield goes on to say that these users should be seen in the
| context of the vast majority, who run Windows.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/02/highfield_bbc_linux_website_users_bafflement/
BBC on the iPlayer
,----[ Quote ]
| An interesting podcast with Ashley Highfield, Director Future Media &
| Technology....Clearly there’s a vast amount of money to be made by
| selling “DRM” solutions to gullible old media companies. It is sad that the
| BBC, who don’t even have to protect their profits, do not have the collective
| brains to see through this scam. Perhaps there is light at the end of the
| tunnel? -- "Where do we go from here? … The solution then is to say either we
| look at a future beyond DRM or we’re going to find it very hard to put our
| content onto open source solutions."
|
| But he is just teasing - they don’t actually look at this future, so I guess
| their choice is to not put their content onto open source solutions!
|
| [...]
|
| I think he needs to add Parliament to his list of people to work better with,
| after the recent lunacy from Lord Triesman
`----
http://www.links.org/?p=269
Interview with Mark Taylor, Pres. of UK Open Source Consortium, by Sean Daly
,----[ Quote ]
| Q: Now, when you say a smoking gun, what exactly do you mean?
|
| Mark Taylor: Well, the -- (laughter) -- the thing is, the iPlayer is not what
| it claimed to be, it is built top-to-bottom on a Microsoft-only stack, the
| BBC management team who are responsible for the iPlayer are a checklist of
| senior employees from Microsoft who were involved with Windows Media. A
| gentleman called Erik Huggers who's responsible for the iPlayer project in
| the BBC, his immediately previous job was director at Microsoft for Europe,
| Middle East & Africa responsible for Windows Media. He presided over the
| division of Windows Media when it was the subject of the European
| Commission's antitrust case. He was the senior director responsible. He's now
| shown up responsible for the iPlayer project.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20071021231933899
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
Ubuntu Linux maker joins OSC over iPlayer campaign
,----[ Quote ]
| As the Internet becomes part of everyone's lives - we will all go online
| using more types of device. Locking access to BBC iPlayer content to phones
| and internet tablets running Windows(tm) is shortsighted and bad for
| fee-payers. Platform neutral means that we need
| a solution that supports Linux and Apple's OSX."
|
| We fully support the OSC's vital campaign that the iPlayer support Linux and
| trust that the BBC sees why this is in the interest of feepayers."
`----
http://www.sourcewire.com/releases/rel_display.php?relid=33204&hilite=
What tricks is the BBC up to with Microsoft?
,----[ Quote ]
| The twin elephants in the meeting room will be Microsoft's Silverlight and
| PlayReady.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/16/silverlight_iplayer_playready/
BBC's iPlayer's Prospects Looking Bleak
,----[ Quote ]
| "The future of iPlayer, the BBC's new online on-demand system for delivering
| content, is continuing to look bleaker. With ISPs threatening to throttle the
| content delivered through the iPlayer, consumers petitioning the UK
| government and the BBC to drop the DRM and Microsoft-only technology, and
| threatened legal action from the OSC, the last thing the BBC wanted to see
| today was street protests at their office and at the BBC Media Complex
| accompanied by a report issued by DefectiveByDesign about their association
| with Microsoft."
`----
http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/15/1721229&from=rss
BBC iPlayer protest report
,----[ Quote
| First on site with me is Tom Chance, Green Party spokesperson on Free
| Software. He has organized for Dr Derek Wall, lead spokesperson for the Green
| Party to join us and make some statements about BBC iPlayer and the Microsoft
| lock-in it establishes.
|
| [...]
|
| We have 1500 fliers to distribute, that focus on the key issue with the
| iPlayer, and why $130 Million and 4 years of development don't get you much
| when you choose Microsoft DRM.
`----
http://www.defectivebydesign.org/blog/iPlayerProtestReport
Lobby Group: Microsoft Too Close to BBC
,----[ Quote ]
| A software lobby group is campaigning to highlight the role of software giant
| Microsoft Corp. in the British Broadcasting Corp.'s digital media strategy by
| petitioning Great Britain Prime Minister Gordon Brown to address the issue.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070803/microsoft_bbc.html?.v=1
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
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
|
|