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I'm not shocked at all.

So easy. Soooooo easy.

Soo easy to detect Mafiasoft.

this is sickening.

This should end well.

This is GREAT! Seriously.

When the full scope of the fallout hits, who will come out looking bad and who will look good?

Sounds like M$ won't be the one shining.

Microsoft's behaviour drags the good name of scumbags thru the mud.

Here is where to voice your sentiments:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/info/contactus/fair_trading.shtml

go get 'em...

i bet they end up using silverlight or whatever its called.

Keep up the good work Microsoft. We're all pullin' for ya.

Your "Auntie" has been a spread eagle slut for quite some time. Wake up and smell the cheap perfume.

Here's the response to my complaint to the BBC Trust re. the 'iPlayer' :
Dear Mr Hone

Thank you for your e-mail which was forwarded to this department for reply.

I understand you are unhappy that iPlayer is not yet available to use with Mac.

At Present, BBC iPlayer is only supporting users running Windows XP. The reasoning for this is that it has always been the policy of the BBC to start with the platform that reaches the most number of people and then roll out services from there. I can confirm that we aim to offer support for Windows Vista as well as Mac OS and Linux at a future date.

Currently we're not able to make programmes available for download to Apple Macintosh computers.

This is because the Digital Rights Management (DRM) system we use to protect against illegal downloading and copying, which we've agreed with the rights holders, does not work with Apple computers.

Apple has its own rights management system which is not available for providers like the BBC to use. We regret this inconvenience and are working to find a way to include Apple computers in the future.

The BBC is committed to platform neutrality and is subject to a review on this every six months by the BBC Trust.

Please be advised that we are launching a streaming version of BBC iPlayer this winter, which will be universally accessible.

I would like to assure you that we have registered your comments on our audience log. This is the internal report of audience feedback which we compile daily for all programme makers and commissioning executives within the BBC, and also their senior management. It ensures that your points, and all other comments we receive, are circulated and considered across the BBC.

Thank you once again for taking the trouble to contact us.

Regards

Richard Carey
BBC Information

The title of this article causes me to say, Duh...

The BBC is shit.

Apple is at fault for not providing a DRM for Quicktime, it's as simple as that.

Understandably there is some content that requires protection. Apple made DRM for iTunes to sell iPods. Why not a DRM for Quicktime?

Better than having to download some Microsoft malware pron trojan into Mac OS X itself using a Admin Password.

LORD KNOWS WHAT THAT M$ CODE IS DOING TO OUR PRECIOUS SECURE COMPUTERS!

So us Mac users are shut out of BBC content because there is no DRM for Quicktime.

STUPID APPLE!!

The EU should make M$ produce Mac and Linux versions of their Media Player. At least then anyone can access the copy-protected content.

I wonder how Apple managed to have iTunes running on a PC for several years now and M$ with all their resources have not reciprocated.

Hold on..

As much as I dislike the incapabilities of MS products, the BBC had no choice really.

Name one other off-the-shelf, mature, good quality, supported, streaming and DRM technology, for sale by licence from a company that's prepared to throw shit-loads of money and resource to get it to work, albeit only on Win XP.

Thought so.

The article is worth the read,

1 The BBC is looking to make big cuts but seems to find the money to pay M$ £130 million for the crappy iPlayer.
2. Calling an M$ based soln ianything is a bloody cheek.
3. It is M$ DRM to its core.
4. The Beeb is a government organisation -buying into a monopoly solution is against EU law.
5. The whole of UK government is stuffed with M$ solutions

The BBC is not shit. However it has a problem caused by people like Rupert Murdoch who are quite happy to use their "old media" power to lobby for the BBC to be financially emasculated so that Murdoch's Sky and his newspapers can act as a single "voice of truth" for the British people.

That emasculation has resulted in a BBC that is now top-heavy with managers who will jump through any hoops to be seen to save money. I'd guess that Microsoft is providing Huggers (and any other members of the team) on a secondment deal that is distinctly non-commercial. It has also resulted in a dumbing-down of mainstream television and a lowering of standards that I personally find sickening - we are now faced with the best public-service broadcaster in the world reducing its commitment to production and factual programming in favour of homogeneous formulaic crap.

When the cultural history of the 20th and 21st century are written with the benefit of real hindsight, I hope that the Murdoch family is recognised for its contribution to assaulting the critical faculties of societies on both sides of the Atlantic and in Australia. There are few people on whom I wish genuine harm - however Murdoch Sr. is on that list and I wait for his demise with genuine anticipation.

@MCCFR

Have you seen how many tv channels and radio stations the BBC has these days? I'd hardly call it emasculated. It needs to shrink and focus on what it's supposed to be, a public service broadcaster. They have more staff and stations than they know what to do with. Instead of concentrating on quality they've tried to dominate with quantity. It's nothing to do with Murdoch. Many small countries would love to have the BBC's budget.

As a public service broadcaster it should of course make its online content available to all. I don't think it's good enough to say there's no DRM solution for Macs so we'll support them when we can. They should have either made their own DRM, waited for some to become available or commissioned someone to make it.

There are few people on whom I wish genuine harm - however Murdoch Sr. is on that list and I wait for his demise with genuine anticipation.

Couldn't agree more. If ever there was a man guilty of rape and pillage of all things independent in the media it's this antipodean dinosaur.

The BBC has zero excuse since there are options that are more open and less proprietary...

Project DReaM;

http://www.openmediacommons.org/

The sad excuse that Apple doesn't provide a DRM solution for the BBC is just plain silly!

Why can't the BBC make all their content available on iTunes, free in the UK store and for a price anywhere else?

What's the problem.

It all started with BUSH-blair thing what's happened to the Brits? Do they like to be controlled by uncle Sam?!!!

From the BBC e-mail quoted above by Ed Benet:-

"This is because the Digital Rights Management (DRM) system we use to protect against illegal downloading and copying, which we've agreed with the rights holders, does not work with Apple computers."

Ed, could you reply to that and ask whether they put it to Microsoft to open their DRM to other platforms before commencing this project?

I think we already know the answer, but I'd like to see them say it anyway

I get my Microsoft Office for free. Does that help?

MW = kept. That about sums it up.

@Macaday

I can't agree more, why didn't the BBC do it this way?

If they wanted DRM, surely the £130 million could have bought alot of serious software engineers to the task. Is it possible to make a QuickTime plugin to do this?

And another issue at the table nobody seems to want to answer, How much are the local ISPs going to want to charge for the extra bandwidth the iPlayer will need if each programme broadcast in this way will need 30 times the average YouTube video bandwidth. The pipes are gonna fill up quick if this takes off in a big way.

Chief press officer of BT (who own 61% the infrastructure that ISPs wholesale from) Adam Liversage stated that people would be unaware that the Kontiki P2P distribution system which runs in the background would be eating into their monthly GB usage allowance even when they are not viewing or downloading.

Isn't that just great - it gets better the more you read.

the BBC management team who are responsible for the iPlayer are a checklist of senior employees from Microsoft who were involved with Windows Media.

This is my surprised face.

As much as I dislike the incapabilities of MS products, the BBC had no choice really.

How about: No DRM.

whatʻs the big deal? this is nothing new...

People who are retarded enough to actually watch the crap that BBC puts out as "news" deserve the iPlayer, as in iMStupid...

I donno -- I was pretty upset by all this until I read the GRACO down below on this page:

"Soothe Your Baby and Get a FREE Swaddle Blanket...while supplies last."

Please stop calling them Mafiasoft. It gives the Mafia a bad name.

@MCCFR
"The BBC is not shit. However ..."

"... we are now faced with the best public-service broadcaster in the world reducing its commitment to production and factual programming in favour of homogeneous formulaic crap."

Man speak with forked tongue.

I'm sick and tired of the BBC. The only program that they make which couldn't be produced with such quality is Top Gear.
I'm sick of paying for a fscking "Tv License", which isn't a license at all - It just goes straight into the BBC's pocket!

I'm going to email an official complaint to the BBC immediately.
I'm a license payer, yet people with Windows XP have a greater benefit from the money they've spent!

It's ridiculous. Everyone else who is a license payer and a mac user should kick up a huge fuss. I'm fed up of the BBC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just sent this to the 'offical complaint' department of the BBC:

Dear Sir/ Madam,
I write to you in reference to the BBC iPlayer. I understand that the BBC needs to have a service such as this, to keep up with competitors and give their paying customers the best possible service.
I am a license payer (by law, not by preference), and I assume that it's in the BBC's interests to provide a quality service to all their customers, regardless of their preference to the 'TV license'.
But, as well as being a license payer I am also an Apple Mac user. When I attempt to use the iPlayer, I'm told I need Windows XP. This is discrimination.
Why are the BBC allowed to discriminate their customers? If the BBC were in the private sector, and TV licenses were not compulsory with television ownership, they would lose a huge customer base if they discriminated against a certain group of customers. But, as the BBC is in the public sector, this is not the case. Because the BBC is in the public sector, they are obligated to provide an equal service to everyone who owns a television. An equal service which does not discriminate against any of it's customers.

Yet, the BBC is discriminating against all users of computers which do not run Windows XP.
I understand that you wish to reach the largest part of your customer base first, and then spread to linux and windows vista users. I also understand that there are no plans to supply the iPlayer service to Apple Mac users. This is sickening.

I would have thought that spending (a reported) £130 Million on the service would have been enough to bring in a few software engineers, and create a service, with DRM, that would work on all platforms. But you have not done this.

I look forward to hearing the conclusion drawn by the UK Open Source Consortium regarding the single-platform iPlayer.

In summary, my complaint is that the BBC needs to remember who pays their wages.

Iestyn Williams

SKY LARK…

Sadly, the world is not monochrome.

The BBC is the world's best PSB. Hands-down, no argument. Unfortunately, because of the anti-PSB rhetoric of Murdoch's dark empire and various other factors, the BBC's future license fee settlement - which should have been slightly increased to deal with the swap to HD and digital - was actually pegged under inflation.

The net result is that the BBC's management, in an effort to maintain relevance, is following the Fox vision of crappy "reality" shows because a)they're cheap and b) viewers allegedly like to have "franchises" in which they can be "engaged" through websites and "behind-the-scenes" shows. Welcome to era of the The REAL Truman Show.

I was bought up in the age when the BBC made, albeit in co-operation with American money, shows like James Burke's Connections and The Day The Universe Changed. Not to mention, all of Richard Attenborough's stunning wildlife series. Now, thanks to focus groups and politicians who don't recognise their duty to protect the cultural integrity of the nation, I'm going to have to watch "My Man Boobs and Me".

I congratulate Thatcher, Major and Blair for listening to views of a man who - in nearly forty years - has never paid a penny in tax (either personally or through any of his companies) to the UK Exchequer and whose wanton self-interest is apparent to anyone with a functioning cerebral cortex.

The funny thing is when I turn down the TV and there's no traffic outside and I listen carefully, I can hear Lord Reith spinning in his grave. The BBC will still be the best PSB in the world, but - soon - that title won't mean nearly as much as it should.

Yes, the BBC is "sh!t". Here's why.

1) Government monopoly. That should seal the deal, actually, but some people favor government monopolies...but yet dislike Microsoft. Hmm.

2) History of news bias, censorship, and shady dealings. People. Do a little homework and you'll quickly find out how reviled the BBC is. Here's a hint to help you out -- forum censorship.

3) Complete inability to provide for all computers as its mandate. With all of its money, the BBC can't come up with a solution? That doesn't surprise me, but it does surprise you apparently.

4) The real problem with your infatuation with "independent" newspapers or media is that THEY ALL CHOSE TO BE BOUGHT. That's right. You should be blaming the SPINELESS independents for selling out to Murdoch. Instead, you're railing at the free market.

Can someone explain to me why the BBC doesn't just make their stuff available on iTunes? FGS, there's your cross-platform, DRM-laced (which BBC says doesn't exist on Mac) format.

Why are they even making their own player to begin with? What's up with re-inventing the wheel? Sheesh.

Does anyone else remember the news story that hit about a year ago about how Mafia$oft updated the Winblows Media player a couple of releases ago? A guy who worked on the project said that they had iTunes on one computer, RealPlayer on another, and they copied EVERYTHING from one or the other. WMP is basically hacked together (GUI-wise) from these two.

The BBC is SHIT.
The naive notion that a 'public' broadcaster is somehow 'good' is laughable.
The BBC is a tool of the establishment, feeding you very nicely-cooked CRAP so you continue to smile for the cctv cameras and bend over when the cops think you might be carrying a 2" penknife or some other deadly terrorist tool, like a pencil, or a clothes peg, or a bottle of water.

WAKE UP! there is no nice open free media - its ALL been bought like a cheap whore by allowing media megalomaniacs like the hideous Murdoch to buy anything they want.
The BBC is more corrupt than Fox News, because you THINK its ok.
Its NOT.

@ MCCFR

Your post destroys its own assertion that the BBC is the 'best PSB hands-down' - why dont you just agree that the BBC was NEVER any good, and is a phoney pile of crap, selling very mild opium to the masses?

And , yes, the world IS monochrome - the bad guys really are EVIL and will kill you if you try to stop them.
Look what Bush and his crowd did in New York - killed 3000 US Citizens and got away with it by blaming a bunch of frickin' cave dwellers. The BBC was complicit in that little scam, I seem to recall.

Black and white - bad and good - if you think that the bad guys need a hug, you are falling for that nice opium, sweet tea and biscuits they are pushing, buddy.

Power really is dangerous - its not just a line from a nice British novel.