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Story: BBC says iPlayer criticism unfair

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Posted by: 1000193068 (Wednesday 31 October 2007, 1:09 PM)

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'Kissing Babies' in Public

Highfield: "I am a deep lover of Macs."

This is 'kissing babies in public' moment for Highfield regarding technologies other than those from Microsoft.

He can't, yet, bring himself to say the 'L' word, though. Great shame given that interoperability is being pushed by the BBC Trust for all platforms, including Linux.

Be aware that the DRM used in iPlayer, the downloadable version, is so closely intertwined with Windows that it will *never* be available for another platform until completely re-engineered. We know this because former iPlayer developers have told us so.

This failed project has already cost +£100m (mainly in licensing), just how much more money can they throw at it given that they are cutting staff left, right and centre? But to keep things as they are (i.e. Windows only iPlayer) result in them being reported to the European Commission for illegal state-sponsoring of a commercial vendor.

Tough break.

Take a look at the recent Groklaw article that's prompted this interview (http://tinyurl.com/297z8t) and see it you can ignore the stink emanating from the Beeb's Future Media and
Technology team.

Unfair? You're having a laugh.

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