BBC to hear open source concerns

[easyease]

One good place to let the beeb know what we think of this situation would be the bbc news channels "click" program which concerns computing and the internet. in fact click is the only British program i have ever seen mention ubuntu, Mark shuttleworth has been mentioned a fair few times.
Follow this link to let click know how we feel......
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programme...ox/default.stm

[funkyade]

First post on here for a while as I moved to Gentoo, however, I cannot help comment as I have actually been involved i some of the consultation process to the BBC choosing what (if any rights managemnent they use)...

- a major concern for the BBC initially was to make their 'free' programming available to as many people as possible, including Linux users. Bear in mind the BBC is one of the few media organisations to actually recognise that Linux actually exists and people use it, they have Linux specific help pages for instance.

- another issue in terms of technology was that at the point the consultation process started Vista had not yet been released. Management decided on a wait-and-see policy to see how vista's built-in DRM worked (if at all), how the market/users perceived and/or switched to vista from eithe XP, OSX or Linux, and how quickly M$ resolved compatibility issues with vista and media player.

- in terms of figures, not accurate as I don't have the data at the moment, takeup of vista has been underwhelming to say the least, the vast majority of new or upgrade vista users have actually bought a new PC with it preinstalled. Also, reliability is appalling (some personal experience as have laptop with non-functioning DVDR drive due to vista bug - works in Gentoo etc...), and the constant updates for vista are actually making keeping track of compatibility issues difficult.

- I cannot confirm this, but the BBC as the UKs most recognised and reverred media provider, was under extreme pressure to restrict access to their content by rights holders; essentially, the programmes the BBC buys in rather than makes themselves. You can get access to tons of BBC content via on-demand services through a set top box (use Virgin myself) but very little duplication of that online except Radio, this is mostly free. Unfortunately, bought-in programs are severely restricted. I believe this is because the BBC has in essence been told they will lose the rights to broadcast this stuff unless they do what they are told by the creators - they want serious DRM in place, like what vista is suppose to provide - hence, initial windows only restrictions. Apple, to their credit, are not keen to play ball, even though they can already provide what M$ can't via iTunes to OSX users (and possibly windows users, although iTunes and vista do not get on at them moment!), Linux users with no central mouthpiece or bank balance to argue their case are left in the cold as usual as they have no DRM, and do things like share files with their friends in ways that rights holders can't control (obviously, windows and mac users do this as well but they can be 'policed' in ways that Linux users cannot).

- I am not saying that Linux users are being victimised here, just that because of the very nature of Linux and Open-source, the big boys can't police us in the same way apart from restricting access to content.

- for my own part in this, I no longer am part of the consultation process, and my little voice saying please make this universally accessible to ALL went unheard whilst I was, seemingly.

There is nothing to stop the open-source community snubbing the providers and not buying their products as that is what hurts them the most if that is what it must come down to...

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Apologies for a tired unfocused rant (need coffee urgently, 45 mins sleep etc...), but this is an interesting issue and I feel is not as debated as much as I thought it would be...

[funkyade]

Also, nothing to stop you using WINE to run the absolutely bug-free and wonderful IE7...

[smoker]

There is nothing to stop the open-source community snubbing the providers and not buying their products as that is what hurts them the most if that is what it must come down to...

the thing is, you can't snub the bbc. if you don't buy a licence you are breaking the law, unfortunately. if i had the choice, i would tell the bbc to 'shove it!'

[Nezing]

Firstly.Vista.Piece of junk.I know,I have to use it at work every day.XP.Life support being pulled January 2008.As a BBC licence payer,I know that the standard of most of their programs,such as documentaries,plays,etc,are top notch.Forget the news,as that is about as reliable as a birthday card in a Soviet gulag.
But to exclude UK based linux users,to please the "top guns",of MS,and Apple is a disgrace.This is what it appears to be.It is no use saying that linux is limited,in consumer choice,and too technical to implement.I watch on-line programs such as "Click",via Real Player.I have a good broadband connection,and the program streams very easy.No buffering,judders,or freezing,what so ever.Yes,all viewed in Ubuntu.So for the beeb to say,technical,drm issues,copywrite,etc,will not wash.
How on earth they can say that it could (might),be late next year,before linux "gets a look in",is a joke.Sure,I can watch the BBC everyday,via my cable box,and I could watch their streaming content from Vista at work (dont tell the boss),but that is not the point.
It is yet another kick in the teeth,for the Open Source Community,which has some of the best coders,and forward looking designers out there.Please BBC,get your act together,and remember that the future is bright.The future is linux.

[Elderlygent]

In fact it's perfectly possible to hear the Beeb via ubuntu. You just get RealPlayer 10 and there you go. The problem is (I suspect) the way some of their sites display in Firefox, too narrowly and with type overlaid. I haven't discovered yet whether this is a problem of Firefox or the BBC's page designers. The Times Online site has similar disfigurements. In either event it's a real drag for those with less than 20-20 vision.

[DoctorMO]

In fact it's perfectly possible to hear the Beeb via ubuntu. You just get RealPlayer 10 and there you go. The problem is (I suspect) the way some of their sites display in Firefox, too narrowly and with type overlaid. I haven't discovered yet whether this is a problem of Firefox or the BBC's page designers. The Times Online site has similar disfigurements. In either event it's a real drag for those with less than 20-20 vision.

No this is a new system based on Microsoft DRM enabled Windows Media Video format. If I was king of the world I'd make proprietory formats illegal since it's effectively locking away a users data away from them.

[AndyCooll]

In fact it's perfectly possible to hear the Beeb via ubuntu. You just get RealPlayer 10 and there you go. The problem is (I suspect) the way some of their sites display in Firefox, too narrowly and with type overlaid. I haven't discovered yet whether this is a problem of Firefox or the BBC's page designers. The Times Online site has similar disfigurements. In either event it's a real drag for those with less than 20-20 vision.

Don't even need Realplayer for that. One of the mplayer, totem, vlc (etc) Firefox plugins sort that out.

No, we're talking of something else. This is the BBC's new official 30-day catchup download service of TV programmes. And for that you will need their iPlayer ...which won't work on Linux.