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âProud to be a C/UNIX programmer ââ
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| Unix systems are also inextricably linked to the free software movement, and
| not just because the idea of free software originated in programmer Richard
| Stallmanâs attempt to build GNU (âGNUâs Not UNIXâ), a non-proprietary version
| of Unix, when AT&T, who had taken over Bell Labs and therefore owned the
| copyright in the main commercial version of Unix, tried to lock it up. Unix
| always encouraged tinkering, innovation and experimentation, and in order to
| do that effectively you need to look under the bonnet and read the source
| code- something that remains central to the free software philosophy.
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http://www.p2pnet.net/story/27922
Related:
The BBC's iPlayer Goes to Parliament, by Sean Daly
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| Mr Thompson did his best to not answer
| Authored by: Anonymous on Sunday, January 20 2008 @ 08:25 PM EST
| It sure seems like Mr Thompson avoided directly answering any of the
| questions put to him by Dr Pugh.
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http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080120181708684
BBC Director General grilled by MPs on iPlayer
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| During the meeting there is discussion of iPlayerâs total cost to the licence
| fee-payer - the BBC representatives are unable to give a figure, but start
| the bidding at Â20m, excluding staff costs. Thomson gives incorrect
| information - that Mac and Linux versions of iPlayer have the same
| functionality as Windows versions - and has to change his evidence at the
| end. Perhaps it was this confusion that prompted Dr John Pugh MP to follow up
| the encounter with a letter direct to Mark Thomson today discussing platform
| neutrality in greater detail. A copy of this letter has been passed to the
| Open Rights Group. Â Â Â Â
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http://www.openrightsgroup.org/2008/01/10/bbc-director-general-grilled-by-mps-on-iplayer/
BBC Corrupted
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| 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 Â
| Restrictions Management (DRM) that the iPlayer imposes. You simply cannot be
| allowed to be in control of your computer according to the BBC. Â Â Â
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http://defectivebydesign.org/blog/BBCcorrupted
BBC iPlayer Protests
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| Who are the people responsible for creating this mess?
|
| Â Â * Mark Thompson, BBC director general (DG)
| Â Â * Erik Huggers, group controller at BBC Future Media & Technology
| Â Â * Ashley Highfield, director of new media and technology
|
| Right now, there is very considerable concern within the BBC that the actions
| of the Director General and his team are sending the corporation in the wrong
| direction. The BBC has been embroiled in a number of recent controversies,
| all linked back to the DG's leadership. Â
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http://www.defectivebydesign.org/iPlayerProtest
Why Linux Users Should Be Furious At BBC
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| Recently the BBC had a bit of a wake up call regarding numbers and how many
| Linux users were really out there. Why does any of this matter? It has to do
| with something the BBC provides called the iPlayer. Seriously, relying on
| ActiveX is so "1990's" that it's painful, and as luck would have it, the
| Linux users who wish to use this BBC player made sure that the BBC knew that
| they were making the sought after content inaccessible to those people using
| Linux. Â Â Â
|
| No iPlayer for Linux Users, But There Will Be An Alternative. Based on what I
| have been able to gather thus far, it looks like we will see an Adobe Flash
| option coming out soon. Then again, who really cares? Seriously, if the BBC
| is this foolish to ignore how much Linux growth is taking place both in the
| UK as well as the surrounding countries, then maybe people ought to be
| looking elsewhere? Is it because this is indeed, the BBC? So there is the
| belief that this is the people's media? Up until now, I enjoyed much of what
| the BBC had to offer, but this entire thing is enough to have pushed me away. Â Â Â
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http://www.osweekly.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2731&Itemid=449
Beeb slammed for 'fawning' to Bill Gates
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| 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 Â131.50 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.
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http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37411
http://slated.org/bbc_microsoft_bias
BBC: Death by a thousand top-slices
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| So it looks like the end of the unique, state-centric model for funding the
| BBC. An incoming Conservative administration is unlikely to be more
| sympathetic to the BBC, with its stifling bureucracy and monopoly control
| over a compulsory tax. Â
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http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/18/bbc_top_slicing/
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