Comments on: BBC U-turn: Full iPlayer service may never be available to Mac and Linux Users

By: Linux, the BBC and Your Rights » Yet Another Linux Blog

Linux, the BBC and Your Rights » Yet Another Linux Blog — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 19:58:58 +0000

[...] they would be creating an online video player that supports all operating systems, only to backpedal and state that Linux would not be supported. Now they’re also including DRM in much of their [...]

By: Niel

Niel — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 14:43:13 +0000

Hummm, have the BBC got some kind of deal with microsoft?
Browns Brainwashing Colusionists are not to be trusted!

By: dogStar

dogStar — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 07:40:52 +0000

@Peter Knowles and @pauls
I’m also a cheap bastard who uses Linux and likes to whine. In fact I excel at the latter.
If it comes down to it we should start a fund.

By: netzpolitik.org: » Neues von der BBC » Aktuelle Berichterstattung rund um die politischen Themen der Informationsgesellschaft.

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 11:40:44 +0000

[...] der Open Rights Group: BBC U-turn: Full iPlayer service may never be available to Mac and Linux Users. von markus um 13:40 | abgelegt in Digitalkultur | tagged in BBC und uk | Trackback URL | [...]

By: Paul

Paul — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 21:57:47 +0000

This is the last straw as far as I’m concerned. There are so many things wrong with what the BBC has done (and not done) in recent years: declining quality of TV programmes (esp. science), bad science in general, poor quality and proprietary audio streams, slow to podcast, poor reporting on important digital era issues (swpats, IP extremism) esp. in Europe, lobbying in international forums for new IP privileges, arrogant disregard for the their “customers”…

The money I would’ve once been happy to pay for a TV licence is going to genuinely public service oriented organisations such as NPR in future.

By: Foreign BBC Lover

Foreign BBC Lover — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 03:03:24 +0000

“It comes down to cost per person and reach at the end of the day.”

It absolutely does not.

The BBC produces (read: spends money on) a lot of content that isn’t especially popular and has a very HIGH cost per viewer. Does that mean they should stop making it? Of course not. Bizzare, off-beat, hidden gem kind of programmes are what makes the BBC so great. I don’t even live in the U.K. but I’d be happy to pay a license fee to the BBC to ensure they keep producing these shows - our culture is all the better for them.

So why the philosophical U-turn when it comes to the medium they can be accessed through?

Failing that, is the BBC going to set up an ongoing investigation into Linux/Mac market share so that they can release a Linux/Mac client when the arbitrary user numbers rise to a “feasible” level? If not, how will they know when we Mac/Linux people deserve equal access? If so, wouldn’t it just be cheaper to build a Linux/Mac client in the first place?

…and couldn’t the BBC simply set up an Open Source project to build these clients and let us figure it out ourselves? I can virtually guarantee it would be superior to the existing Windows version or proprietary Mac and Linux software.

By: Peter Knowles

Peter Knowles — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 22:31:55 +0000

Count me in as well. As another one of those “cheap bastard” Linux users, I will happily pledge 1000 Pounds to any organization which mounts a legal action against the BBC in the UK/EU over this matter. I’m not so wealthy that money has lost all meaning to me. I just feel that strongly about it.

I don’t use Linux because I’m cheap. I use it because I value a little thing called freedom (and I imagine I’m not alone in that). dogStar would be surprised at what price tag some of us assign to it, and how much some of us might contribute to protect it.

By: pauls

pauls — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 18:53:30 +0000

As one of those ’10s of 1000s’ of Linux users, I would definitely help fund legal action in the UK courts. I probably couldn’t afford more than 250 pounds, but I wouldn’t consider myself a cheap bastard who likes to whine. I also don’t think I’m in the minority. Linux is my only OS, and I don’t see why I should have to pay a tax to some multinational to view programming I’ve already paid for, especially when cross-platform solutions exist and are mature.

By: Links For Wednesday 17th October 2007 at Digitalia

Links For Wednesday 17th October 2007 at Digitalia — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 18:18:46 +0000

[...] BBC U-turn: Full iPlayer service may never be available to Mac and Linux Users Replacing it instead with a streamed-in-a-browser service. Which would mean that it’s unavailable off-line. I am generally in favour of the Beeb and the license fee, but this is not on, and the Beeb deserve a hefty slapping for it. (tags: bbc technology standards video) [...]

By: dogStar

dogStar — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 18:18:22 +0000

@Matt Wayne: “I for one would be in favour of a legal challange to the BBC on this.”

The BBC management’s apparent change of heart is due, in part, to the threat of a formal complaint to the EU competition authorities by groups such as the Open Source Consortium and the FSF.

Formal legal action in the UK courts would be enormously expensive, something that I doubt the ’10s of 1000s’ of Linux users you refer to would be willing to help fund - because they’re generally cheap bastards who like the sound of their own whining