Re: [Fsuk-manchester] Re: iplayer.. ???? what?

[Iain Roberts]

----- "Stephen Mount" <address@hidden> wrote:
> iirc, BBC iPlayer is supposed to be made cross-platform soon?
> 
> Didn't they get a grilling from some company? I'm sure thats what I  
> read.
> 

The Open Source Consortium kicked off a campaign on iPlayer back in February, 
including complaints to OFCOM and the OFT and a threat of going to the EU with 
a complaint that the BBC is misusing state funds by promoting one vendor over 
another (and the one vendor they're promoting happens to be a convicted 
monopolist).

The campaign has gone very well (the threat of legal action seems to focus the 
mind wonderfully) but there's still a way to go.

What we *have* achieved is 
1. A commitment from the BBC to release programmes in YouTube-style non-DRM'd 
streaming which should make programmes accessible over the Internet to everyone.
2. A willingness to explore further the options for developing a FLOSS iPlayer, 
possibly involving the community.

The gap at the moment is that there's still no commitment to parity between 
different OSs.  Sure the BBC say they'll *work towards* making iPlayer 
cross-platform and they'll *talk* about Free alternatives, but that's just what 
you'd say to get someone off your back if you had no intention of doing 
anything at all, so we can't take it for granted.

The principle is a legal one: when a publically funded body acts in such a way 
as to promote one vendor over another, it can be seen as illegal and we can 
challenge it on those grounds.  

Internally, they can do what they like.  What they can't do is say "We've got 
this great new service, paid for by the taxpayer/licence-payer; by the way, you 
need to buy a Windows PC to use it.", any more than they can say "We've 
launched a great new channel; by the way you need to by a Sony TV to watch it."

If we can win *that* argument, debates about how many Linux users there are 
become irrelevant.

Iain


-- 
Iain Roberts
Axiom Tech
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