[Wolves] BBC & Winows DRM - shouldn't we complain?

[Andy Wootton]

Broadfield Robert wrote:
> >Save the BBC from Windows DRM! by Glyn Moody
>
> _http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1000183_
>
> >The BBC is contemplating the use of Windows DRM to control how its 
> on-demand
>
> >content is viewed. This means one must use Windows Media Player 10 
> (egad!),
>
> >leaving the Linux and Macintosh folks poop-out-of-luck.
>
I would guess that this is unlikely to be accurate. I went to a seminar 
on 'social networking tools in business' on Wednesday and Thursday. The 
BBC News Interactive Technology Editor was a speaker. He was keen to 
point out that the Beeb is about to move to Flash. He apologized for the 
decision to use Real and then Microsoft technologies by applying the 
logic that 'most people use Windows'. I got the impression that they've 
realised there is a fairly vocal minority who don't :-)

I think the people in the know at the BBC realise that not having to 
charge for things is their big competitive advantage over the commercial 
broadcasters. Keeping the licence payer sweet by giving them free stuff 
seems a good strategy to me. It is their competititors that want the BBC 
to charge for information and politicians who are going to have to make 
the changes necessary to enable that. If I was running the BBC, I'd be 
trying to make that a change the voters wouldn't like while saying I 
fully supported it to my political masters and that the Corporation 
would welcome the challenge. It concerns me that I'm starting to 
understand how managers think :-/

Woo