[backstage] Open Source Show And Tell
Apologies for the mass mailing, but I'm organising a (free) event next week that might well interest some of the readers on this list. It's the Open Source Show And Tell, takes place at our offices near Borough Market in London, and everyone is welcome. You can find out more here: http://www.ossat.org http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/5393063/ Cheers, Phil -- http://philwhitehouse.blogspot.com
Re: [backstage] Video on Demand Dissertation Survey
It seems to works in Chrome, which uses WebKit - so maybe just a Safari issue? Phil On Tue, Mar 2, 2010 at 1:15 PM, Simon Stirrat streetma...@gmail.com wrote: In hindsight it would have been better to ask someone before spamming it out to everyone. I'm sorry Ian, I'll do things differently next time. Thank you everyone for there responses, I really appreciate it. And I'm very surprised that SurveyMonkey doesn't support WebKit, something else I'll remember next time. On 2 March 2010 12:46, Ian Forrester ian.forres...@bbc.co.uk wrote: p.s. I hope this doesn't break any of the house rules. There are house rules? Cripes. - So there are not exactly house rules, but its always good to run stuff like this pass me first just to make sure. Cheers, Ian - 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/ -- Simon Stirrat streetma...@gmail.com s.stir...@rave.ac.uk - 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/ -- http://philwhitehouse.blogspot.com
Re: [backstage] BBC iPlayer for Apple TV
Has anyone tried this alongside aTV Flash on the Apple TV? My woeful tech skills don't extend to the command line, but I've been very happy with aTV Flash so far. The only thing missing has been iPlayer. So maybe I'll ask the aTV Flash people to bundle this together with their product, they've done this with other open source tools, and you get the option to deselect stuff you don't want. (Tried Boxee on aTV Flash, didn't like it - but that was in beta. Interested in others' views!) Cheers, Phil On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 11:04 AM, Jeremy Stone jem.st...@bbc.co.uk wrote: . - Original Message - From: owner-backst...@lists.bbc.co.uk owner-backst...@lists.bbc.co.uk To: backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk Sent: Wed Feb 03 10:22:11 2010 Subject: Re: [backstage] BBC iPlayer for Apple TV On 2 Feb 2010, at 22:14, Jonathan Tweed wrote: Thanks, it's been a fun project. Do feel free to fork and improve :) Nifty! At last, a use for the Apple TV? ;-) S - 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/ -- http://philwhitehouse.blogspot.com
Re: [backstage] iPad
Some useful context on the Apple / Flash debate: daringfireball.net/2010/01/apple_adobe_flash Phil On Thu, Jan 28, 2010 at 12:20 PM, Michael Kraskin michael.kras...@bbc.comwrote: I think the no-Flash means that it a seriously crippled web browser. Hardly the best way to browse the internet, and thus will be a serious disappointment, not only to power users, but to casual internet surfers as well. The no-camera thing just screams wait for the second generation before you buy one - Original Message - From: owner-backst...@lists.bbc.co.uk owner-backst...@lists.bbc.co.uk To: backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk Sent: Thu Jan 28 07:03:32 2010 Subject: Re: [backstage] iPad On Thu, Jan 28, 2010 at 11:49, Dave Crossland d...@lab6.com wrote: 2010/1/28 Daniel Morris daniel.mor...@bbc.co.uk: Sorry, I didn't realise we were back in the 1970s where the software that runs on the iPhone can be called an operating system. Am I missing something - how is it not an OS? :) Apple actively oppose you installing whatever you want to, and running applications in the background, on the iPhone and now on the iPad. These are features of any respectable operating system since the 70s. No, these are features of any operating system designed for use by computer users. If you own your computer, it ought to be under your control. Apple computers are not. The ultimate answer is 100% free software. The same applies to your car, central heating system, ADSL router, Freeview box, TV and most mobile phones... and while a laudable goal, the people who won't buy one of those things for this reason is in the minority, principally because a) you need to find someone to actually make the thing and sell it at a reasonable price, and b) the alternatives often aren't that good (in other words, the freedom is a great big trade-off). Point of note, though, it's a computer in the technical sense, in the same way that all mobile phones are computers. Really, though, it's CE. Adjust expectations accordingly. What it isn't, and specifically isn't claimed to be (though lots of people would certainly like one) is a tablet-form-factor Mac. M. - 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/ This e-mail (and any attachments) is confidential and may contain personal views which are not the views of the BBC unless specifically stated. If you have received it in error, please delete it from your system. Do not use, copy or disclose the information in any way nor act in reliance on it and notify the sender immediately. Please note that the BBC monitors e-mails sent or received. Further communication will signify your consent to this -- http://philwhitehouse.blogspot.com
Re: [backstage] The browser wars, reloaded?
It isn't a case of designers meekly deferring to their clients - more a case of designers recognising that a large chunk of their audience (~15%) uses ie6 and has no choice in the matter. I strongly dislike ie6, but it isn't going anywhere. Blogged about it here: http://philwhitehouse.blogspot.com/2009/08/ie6-isnt-going-anywhere.html I'm sure some would respond that IT departments should upgrade, and we can put pressure on them through the users, but the reality is that this isn't going to happen until the cost of upgrade (including upgrading all the old systems designed for ie6 i.e. very, very expensive) are outweighed by the cost of not upgrading (pretty low, actually). So it really doesn't make sense to alienate potential users or customers in the meantime. Phil On Mon, Dec 14, 2009 at 3:13 PM, Christopher Woods chris...@infinitus.co.uk wrote: There's no need to support IE6. I don't even consider IE6 backward competibility when I design web sites, nor do I care if people don't like that. You wouldn't win any points round here for that attitude, I'm afraid. There isn't anyone here who *wants* to be supporting IE6, I assure you... Of course :) However imho as long as designers continue to meekly defer to clients and their requests to support completely obsolete browsers, the longer it takes to design a good web site, the more costly it becomes and the more complicated it is to maintain - it's really in nobody's best interests. We've collectively been far too wet behind the ears about it for a long time. The customer is not always right. (and this comes from someone who's both a web designer and, wearing his other hat, a (frustrated) client of 'professional' web designers!) - 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/ -- http://philwhitehouse.blogspot.com
Re: [backstage] BBC NEWS | Technology | Flash moves on to smart phones
In case you're interested, I'm organising a free event where javascript legend Jeremy Ruston is giving a talk on HTML5 and the slow death of Flash. Plenty of time for QA afterwards! Details here: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/4516026/ Cheers, Phil On Mon, Oct 5, 2009 at 5:42 PM, cisnky cis...@gmail.com wrote: Mate, Dream on about HTML 5 killing off Flash. HTML5 is a standards time bomb waiting to go off. 2009/10/5 Zen zen16...@zen.co.uk Hopefully. HTML5 will kill off flash once and for all. Some hope! On 5 Oct 2009, at 14:19, Dan Brickley wrote: Great news, phone fans! http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8287239.stm One of the most common technologies for watching video on a computer will soon be available for most smartphones. Flash software is used to deliver around 75% of online video and is the key technology that underpins websites such as YouTube and Google Video. Until now, many smartphones and netbooks have used a light version of the program, because of the limited processing power of the devices. The new software is intended to work as well on a smartphone as a desktop PC. Adobe, the maker of Flash, said it should be available on most higher-end handsets by 2010, although Apple's iPhone would continue not to use the software. The sort of rich apps we now see being delivered on PCs will now be coming to the phone, Ben Wood, director of mobile research at analyst firm CCS Insight, told BBC News. You'll be able to access a lot of the cool stuff that web designers are coming up with. ... Apple anomaly ... The new software will be available for Windows Mobile, Palm webOS and desktop operating systems including Windows, Macintosh and Linux later this year. Trial software for Google Android and the popular Symbian operating systems are expected to be available in early 2010. However, it will not be available for the Apple iPhone, according to Mr Muraka. We're going to need Apple's cooperation, he told BBC News. At the moment Safari (Apple's web browser) doesn't support any kind of plug-in [on the iPhone]. But we'd love to see it on there. Mr Wood said he thought that time would come soon. As momentum builds, I think Apple will have little choice but to embrace it [Flash], he said. Watch this space. Apple did not respond to requests for comment. - 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/ - 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/ -- --- Anthony Onumonu - Blog www.cisnky.com Twitter www.twitter.com/cisnky - Mobile: +44 (0) 7920 10 25 35 - -- http://philwhitehouse.blogspot.com
Re: [backstage] Fwd: [Autonomo.us] Skype, out?
I used to work for the open source innovation arm of BT, during which time I wrote this blog post on the subject: http://philwhitehouse.blogspot.com/2008/06/how-to-make-money-from-open-source.html Your email brings to mind the joke where someone was asked for directions, and the response was You shouldn't start from here. Essentially open source is viable in some cases and less so in others - but it depends on many factors. Cheers, Phil On Tue, Aug 4, 2009 at 11:07 AM, Alun Rowe alun.r...@pentangle.co.ukwrote: Yes I have but it is fairly unique. How would you obtain funding for an idea which had no IP of it own? “Do you own the patent on this?” - er no it’s open source. “Can anyone arrive in the marketplace tomorrow and replicate what you do?” - er yes. Like I say I love the utopian model but I can’t see it happening for a long long time. Companies NEED to be able to maintain their own technology without simply passing it to their competitors on a plate. Anyway it’s no surprise people pay Red Hat for support. Mere users don’t stand a chance with anything Linux based. It’s far too geeky to use still. Alun On 04/08/2009 08:13, Dave Crossland d...@lab6.com wrote: Have you heard of Red Hat? On 4 Aug 2009, 7:02 AM, Alun Rowe alun.r...@pentangle.co.uk wrote: The problem with a 'free digital society' is that people need salaries. Ask the music/film industry what they think. I love the idea of utopia but we all know that unicorns don't exist, right? On 3 Aug 2009, at 20:14, Dave Crossland d...@lab6.com wrote: Hi, What about the case fo... Alun Rowe Pentangle Internet Limited 2 Buttermarket Thame Oxfordshire OX9 3EW Tel: +44 8700 33... This message (and any associated files) is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is confidential, subject to copyright or constitutes a trade secret. If you are not the intended recipient you are hereby notified that any dissemination, copying or distribution of this message, or files associated with this message, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please notify us immediately by replying to the message and deleting it from your computer. Messages sent to and from us may be monitored. Internet communications cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. Therefore, we do not accept responsibility for any errors or omissions that are present in this message, or any attachment, that have arisen as a result of e-mail transmission. If verification is required, please request a hard-copy version. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the company. *Alun Rowe* *Pentangle Internet Limited* 2 Buttermarket Thame Oxfordshire OX9 3EW Tel: +44 8700 339905 Fax: +44 8700 339906 *Please direct all support requests to **it-supp...@pentangle.co.uk*it-supp...@pentangle.co.uk Pentangle Internet Limited is a limited company registered in England and Wales. Registered number: 3960918. Registered office: 1 Lauras Close, Great Staughton, Cambridgeshire PE19 5DP -- http://philwhitehouse.blogspot.com
Re: [backstage] Make the primary OS used in state schools FOSS
I think FOSS can have a huge future but the community need to think about user experience then it will be taken more seriously. FWIW I've just come back from FOSDEM (open source community event in Brussels), and there are plenty of open source projects now putting usability at the top of their requirements list - and are hiring accordingly. These include Ubuntu, Firefox (of course!), Drupal and Mediawiki. Those are just the ones I know about. Hopefully we'll see some positive results in the coming months and years. Phil On Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 9:13 AM, Alun Rowe alun.r...@pentangle.co.ukwrote: On 09/02/2009 23:15, Christopher Woods chris...@infinitus.co.uk wrote: unless some incredibly well-designed thin client solutions were brought to my attention (and then you're talking equivalent prices for thin clients as you would for regular MiniATX desktops). I'm not sure that a thin client can, as you suggest, handle the requirements of a school's media department, in this instance you would place a desktop/tower instead. We run a mixed client setup for a number of housing associations in the UK where the majority of users (admin/management etc), who do not require huge graphics capability, run with a Wyse terminal and the planning department (for example) will have a well specced Dell machine. As you suggest a decent thin client will cost you as much as a MiniATX machine BUT it has much lower power consumption and have a potential life of 8 years or more. Typically a PC if having to run Windows will be lifed at 3 years. So after 3 years where a typical Windows environment will be replaced in toto we are simply adding more power to our VMWare server pool. I'm still personally very sceptical of thin client solutions, I don't think their capabilities ar sufficient to satisfy all the potential uses for educational machines. And I wouldn't like to have all that total reliance on just a handful of extremely powerful servers; it's bad enough when the Internet proxy server goes down or the network drive can't be accessed because the Active Directory is having a fit, but to have a classful of children sitting in front of dumb terminals when the primary host server for that classroom's client machines goes down? Wuh oh. You can run multiple head servers and backend pool for a TS environment. Maybe my mistrust is misplaced, and thin clients are actually really quite good at most things now... Perhaps my perception of them, like many other peoples', is part of the problem which needs to be addressed. There must be some reason other than bloody-mindedness that makes schools keep on going for full-PC solutions time after time though... Really? In my experience school IT staff are generally beholden to RM or similar and do as they are told. RM would see a MASSIVE drop in hardware sales if they pushed people onto thin client do to the reasons I list above. So I can't see them doing it anytime soon... I do aim to do more work in the educational sector as my own business gets going in the next few years, and I want to offer all kinds of viable solutions as long as they work well for everybody. Do you really think that setups like the LTSP are as competitive as regular networks of fairly powerful x86 machines and central file/print/etc servers for secondary school environments? (not being sarkies here, genuinely interested to know your thoughts and prepared to do a lot of reading if you have suggested starting points). I've unfortunately not had enough experience of a pure FOSS network and would definintely like to see more. My IT company are always looking to improve things! The couple of Ubuntu servers we run for Web Services/SVN etc are wonderfully reliable. But... //personal rant coming up... For any open source software (Linux for example) to really work on the network en mass we need to about user experience. Currently I've yet to see an attractive/user friendly piece of FOSS. Whilst the software (once you've worked out how to use it) is extremely effective IMO user experience is a big part of the software which usually gets overlooked in FOSS scenarios. I think FOSS can have a huge future but the community need to think about user experience then it will be taken more seriously. -- http://philwhitehouse.blogspot.com
Re: [backstage] Make the primary operating system used in state schools free and open source
The cost of school licences is a drop in the ocean compared to the cost of lifetime subscription. Microsoft may be many things, but they aren't stupid..! Phil On Tue, Feb 10, 2009 at 9:44 AM, Fearghas McKay fm-li...@st-kilda.orgwrote: On 10 Feb 2009, at 09:23, Alun Rowe wrote: Microsoft offers the OS and Office at extremely competitive prices to schools. I have heard it quoted as being around £5 per license for Office. It is cheaper but not that cheap... At Glasgow University it used to be nearly that cheap - because there was a site wide licence students could get a set of discs for ~£10. Which probably only just about covered the costs of the admin and the floppies. The current retail price for a 3 user Home/School use only copy is £99, inc VAT, so £33 a user. f - 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/ -- http://philwhitehouse.blogspot.com
Re: [backstage] Make the primary operating system used in state schools free and open source
He isn't advocating making Windows open source, the petition states that the primary OS used in schools should be a free and open source alternative to windows. Not idiotic at all. I've signed up. Phil On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 4:05 PM, Richard Lockwood richard.lockw...@gmail.com wrote: Mm. Very interesting. If something as simple as a petition will make Windows free and open source, why has no-one thought of it before? Why do the idiots who start these petitions never have any kind of grasp of grammar? Or proof reading? Would you take anyone seriously who turned up on your doorstep dribbling from the mouth, telling you it's all bout the lu1z? No. Nothing to see here - move along now... Cheers, Rich. On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 2:24 PM, Mr I Forrester mail...@cubicgarden.com wrote: Seen this in my mailbox a few times today, sure you will all find this interesting... We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Make the primary operating system used in state schools free and open source http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/nonMSschools/ - 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/ - 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/ -- http://philwhitehouse.blogspot.com
Re: [backstage] Make the primary operating system used in state schools free and open source
Maybe I'm a poor deluded misguided fool who needs showing the error of my ways? Lorks, far from it! I think we'd need a lot of people like you if the government does try and introduce open source into schools. These are really important problems that mustn't be overlooked. I'll assume for the purpose of brevity that the readers of this list understand the benefits of open source. We're training our kids to give money to vendors for their entire lives. Windows is an expensive, inherently closed system which, in 2009, offers very little benefit over and above open source alternatives. This gap is closing fast. So let's look at the negatives to see if they can be mitigated and overcome. I definitely recognise the problems you've outlined, but I believe they're not insurmountable. Introducing open source solutions to all schools in a 'big bang' fashion would be a total disaster, no doubt about it. But I can imagine a world where a gentle introduction (pilot projects in a limited number of capable schools) could help define what a subsequent, gradual rollout might look like. Several key issues would need to be addressed. The lack of available software is a big problem, but I believe this can be addressed at the government level by insisting that all commissioned software runs cross-domain. Having recently spent time walking around a primary school (my daughter started there in January) I didn't see any materials that couldn't have been designed to display in a browser. And there were plenty of PowerPoint slides that could run in OpenOffice. So if we start making this a condition of all new software NOW, then in a few years time we'd have a lot less propriertary software to worry about, and there's nothing to lose in the meantime. Support is another key issue, but one which I expect to fall away in 2009. Ubuntu isn't quite there yet, granted, but they're investing huge amounts of money in this area: http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/162 I believe that support issues (especially re 3rd party devices) will be level with Windows in the next 2 years. Maybe sooner. Just looking back over your list: 1) setting it all up - keep it small to start with, then roll into normal upgrade cycle, there's no hurry! 2) testing it - this should be part of the procurement process, push the onus of (cross browser?) testing onto the vendor 3) supporting it - getting easier, and heaven knows Windows has its own problems here, especially re: virii, malware, etc. 4) fixing stuff that doesn't work like it should - same problems at present i.e. no obvious downside, again the browser is the key. If it works in Firefox it'll work everywhere. 5) dealing with problems related to the transition - again, by making it gradual and rolling it into the current upgrade cycle we mitigate the risk All this needs to be judged against the HUGE upside. More time, energy and money invested in open source makes it better for everyone. I'm not a microsoft hater by any means, but spending £millions of public money on vendor lock-in seems daft to me. Time to start planning a gradual and controlled move over to open source. Hey, it could take 5-10 years but the benefits seem worthwhile. And then we'd have an army of youngsters ready-equiped to operate in a world where open source will definitely be a big player. Just my $0.02! Phil On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 4:12 PM, Christopher Woods chris...@infinitus.co.ukwrote: Seen this in my mailbox a few times today, sure you will all find this interesting... We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Make the primary operating system used in state schools free and open source http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/nonMSschools/ I find this idea appealing but fundamentally flawed. Let me explain why this concept is a non-starter for all but a few schools. I went through this country's education system and am currently in my final year at University, so it wasn't such a long time ago ;) It so happens that my Dad was the deputy head at the school I went to and he was also the only person who managed the school's entire IT infrastructure for a very long time. Yes, the school did eventually become a Technology College (thanks in part due to his hard work over the time he was there), and with that Technology College status they got a lot more money - they eventually got one, then two, then several members of dedicated IT staff - but for the most part it was him steering the boat as such. He did the lion's share of the administrative IT work as well, installing and maintaining SIMS, all the staff machines, equipment, etc. The bloke working in the Reprographics department managed the offset litho printer (yes, they had one!) and the photocopiers I think, but that was about it. So, during the best part of 14 years he was there for, my Dad oversaw and managed installations of, in order, an Acorn network with matching Econet system (remember the DINs and T-bars? :D), a
