Re: [Fsfe-uk] BBC's DRM Iplayer windows only

[Alex Hudson]

On Sun, 2007-12-30 at 16:48 +0000, Andy wrote:
> > We need to give them some seriously loud
> > advice to use Free Software, and if we did, I think they would.
> 
> I doubt it. They are looking for any excuse to block all free
> software. Why do you think iPlayer requires IE and ActiveX? There is
> no technical reason what-so-ever for using ActiveX. It is there solely
> to lock out Mozilla and it's ilk.

I really don't think that's the case. I don't think they intended to
block out free software; they just didn't care, and it's much easier not
to care than to have to do the work to include it. Building on top of IE
- technically - is much easier than Mozilla.

Similarly, I think the DRM is much more about preventing non-UK-resident
users than free software users.

The end result is the same, but I don't think we can make change without
understanding the motivations.

Cheers,

Alex.