On 16/08/07, Jason Cartwright <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Does iPlayer contain Silverlight? I've not seen anything to suggest it > does. > > What the hell does all this matter anyhow, there is no lock in. The tech > is > just being used to deliver the content as per spec, which it seems to be > doing. Nothing is stopping the BBC ditching MS products for iPlayer at any > time with a simple (automatically installed?) patch, right? > > Seems the anti-DRM protests are misdirected. Why is the yellow jump-suit > brigade talking to the people who actually have the power to change it? > The > rights holders. We've seen rights-cleared videos being released without > DRM > on bbc.co.uk for years. I don't see anyone hassling Apple - but plenty of > people are hassling record labels, and they have gone on to do something > about it.
Good point. They should talk to http://www.pact.co.uk/ but I guess it's the old "everyone has to pay the licence fee" issue and all the touchy-freely stuff from the BBC management and BBC Trust (in the vein of "it's your BBC") which confuses people. There is clearly a problem now as the Trust supports the management, not the licence-fee payers! I guess people read things like this http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2006/09_september/28/microsoft.shtml and put 10 and 10 together and get 101 (binary joke!). iPlayer installation numbers will be tiny compared to Flash installations - > you know YouTube gets many, many more visitors that bbc.co.uk? That will be the fact that less than 1% of the planet's population lives in the UK? J > > > On 15/8/07 20:15, "Dave Crossland" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > On 14/08/07, Jason Cartwright <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> The irony is that it probably doesn't matter now. They could now > download it > >> using their Windows XP machine in DRMed Windows Media Format. > >> > >> All thanks to our new overlord Bill, and his maniacal scheme to take > over > >> the BBC from the inside. > > > > Adobe currently has web video locked down; Apple, Real, Java, Xiph, > > and of course Microsoft are all in very niche use compared to Adobe > > Flash. Adobe Apollo is a direct competitor to Microsoft Silverlight, > > and with the inertia of Flash video and a large group of web designers > > already familiar with Flash, plus cheaper a licensing model than > > Microsoft, it looks like its in with a chance. The typical Microsoft > > response to fair competition is to compete unfairly. > > > > iPlayer, and a number of other high profile 2007 BBC projects, are > > based on Silverlight technology. Highfield's reponse on the Backstage > > blog points at the other proprietary technologies the BBC foists on > > the public, but these are based on previous technology decisions; the > > new stuff is all Silverlight based. > > > > 100,000 iPlayer sign-ups in a week, Martin? That's 100,000 more > > Silverlight installations. Given Microsoft's other major play to > > deploy Silverlight is Vista, and we all know how well that's working > > out for them this year, its outrageous to me that the BBC has paid > > Microsoft _anything_ for forcing license fee payers to install this > > key piece of strategic technology for them. Then UK is, afterall, one > > of the most broadband-saturated and media-consuming audiences, leading > > the way for other nations - Is the BBC likely to open up a > > non-zero-price iPlayer to international viewers at somepoint? So this > > is a big win for Microsoft's bid to control the next stage of web > > development with Silverlight. > > > > The BBC is committed to shipping a cross-platform iPlayer, and its a > > shame that this becomes the sole focus of the reporting on this issue. > > An iPlayer for 3 or 4 platforms is 3 or 4 times as worse as an XP-only > > iPlayer, because it is imposing DRM on even more people, and implying > > that DRM is acceptable. > > > > When it does ship a cross-platform iPlayer, I expect it will be based > > on Novell's Mono Moonlight for GNU/Linux, probably doing the media > > codec stuff with the GStreamer framework given that Fluendo, its > > sponsor, sells Windows Media Codecs already - > > https://shop.fluendo.com/product_info.php?products_id=45 - and the Mac > > OS X one might be Mono or Microsoft based. > > > > That's going to really help the widespread adoption of Silverlight as > > the Rich Internet Application platform of choice. > > > > In 2007, Google has maintained the dominant position for monetising > > search and advertising - of the text web. Their purchase of YouTube > > suggested they were serious about monetising the emerging video web, > > but the DRM aspects of Silverlight video delivery mean that their > > ability to provide search and advertising for web video is going to be > > undermined. > > > > So the BBC hasn't just helped Microsoft pull a Adobe-killer, it's also > > helping Microsoft pull a Google-killer. > > - > Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please > visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. > Unofficial > list archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk/ > -- Please email me back if you need any more help. Brian Butterworth www.ukfree.tv
