bbgruff <bbgruff@xxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>
>> BBC Dumps Microsoft-Backed Skinkers Apps, Switches To Adobe
>>
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>> | The BBC is moving away from desktop apps made by Microsoft-backed Skinkers
>> | and instead bringing production in-house, switching to Adobe?s (NSDQ:
>> | ADBE) Flash-based cross-platform Flex and AIR frameworks. John O?Donovan,
>> | BBC future media and technology?s chief architect for journalism,
>> | explained that its desktop alert apps like Mini Motty and news ticker have
>> | ?hundreds of thousands? of users but ?only work on Windows, are built out
>> | of a variety of proprietary tools?, ?are difficult to manage and expensive
>> | to maintain?.
>
> Try here:-
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2008/07/free_range_widgets.html
>
> Well worth reading, but what struck me was the postings at the end.
> First post was a complaint (of course:-)) from a Linux user....
>
> ... to be fair, having been "put straight", he was (imo) very graceful about
> being corrected. All-in-all, a very tolerable outcome, I thought.....
> ... and the whole thing very representative of the continuing Linux
> awareness/acceptance, of course.
>
Don't forget that Ashley Highfield has already lost his job through
promoting Microsoft into the BBC rather than promoting open-standards
and cross-platform delivery *out of* the BBC.
It's very much a perspective thing. Microsoft's goal is, of course, to
sell licensing as much as possible. The BBC using a Microsoft platform
means that the BBC will be paying Microsoft for as long as Microsoft
decide, pay as much as Microsoft decide, and also have to pay for
upgrades, fixes & changes whenever Microsoft decide. It's not a very
healthy relationship from the customer's viewpoint, and it's decidedly
dubious from the point of view of licence-fee payers (like thee & me); a
similar argument also applies to council-tax & income tax payers, too.
There is no excuse for wasting our tax money on proprietary locked-down
solutions when there are perfectly good open alternatives.
The main message here is that Ashley Highfield lost his job because he
chose Microsoft. Caveat emptor.
--
| mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
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| Open platforms prevent vendor lock-in. Own your Own services! |
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