Sunday, July 29, 2007

BBC and Microsoft: Best buddies in town

To watch BBC's video programming online, you need to install iPlayer which needs Microsoft Windows installed on your computer. As Defective by Design says, it is like dictating 'you must own a Sony TV set to watch BBC TV'.

There's more: you must also accept Microsoft-inspired Digital Rights Management (DRM) that the iPlayer imposes upon you.

I never knew watching news video online would require so much hassle. BBC's online media initiatives were supposed to be harbingers of things to come, setting up BBC as an innovation leader.

The BBC runs more than 500 excellent news sites. However, in this case, DefectivebyDesign argues that BBC's 'Microsoft-friendly' approach stems from the simple fact that important persons within the BBCorganization and the British Government are pretty close to Microsoft. The BBC's Director of New Media and Technology was openly sharing platform with Microsoft and touting DRM. Moreover, the man who is in charge of BBC Future Media & Technology, Eric Huggers earlier held a variety of senior posts at Microsoft.

It is no coincidence that Bill Gates has an honorary knighthood. Just the other day, I watched a detailed Bill Gates interview on BBC's tech program "Click Online", where the billionaire talked eloquent about bringing computing to the poor - he did not mention $ 3 Windows, plans to finish the OLPC, among other things. Which was fine but I was surprised that the interviewer did not ask any hard question, reducing the program to a good PR exercise for Microsoft.

DefectivebyDesign is running a campaign to pressure BBC to stop using the current 'pro-Microsoft' iPlayer. You can sign up here.

The BBC has considerable global reach. We should hope that it remains as objective in its tools selection as it is with its news.

Platform Agnostism is the way to go.

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posted by Pramit Singh @ 12:40 PM 0 Comments

Monday, June 18, 2007

Three Things I don't like about the BBC

The BBC is the benchmark as far as news quality and coverage go for quite a long time and there is nothing that can be added to this account. However, there have been times when the Beeb has been over the board while covering the news.

I have been a long watcher of the channel and the local cable operator will vouch for my testy feistiness when I don’t get the signal, as was the case when BBC World went completely digital and turned Pay.

1. The Queen and Brand Britain: There is too much of the ‘royal focus’ and may be it is because the royals are Britain’s primary global branding weapon. That said, it becomes a bit heavy to learn about Prince William’s latest girlfriend.

2. Religion: BBC is renown for its objective reporting but it can’t help itself from covering the Pope’s visit, and at times it can too Catholic for its own good.

3. Using the ‘Great’ attribute liberally: Although not in huge doses like other news channels, the BBC uses the ‘Great’ attribute liberally when covering events such as auctions – the Beatles and Andy Warhol may have been icons for the Baby Boomers but they are blips for rest of us – why not call the truth and say that the Looter businessmen of Russia and the newly rich in Asia can’t make a difference between Warhol and Damien Hearst, art being nothing more than wallpaper/Trophies at the Mantlepiece.

A case may be pointed for Britain becoming the playground for the newly rich from all the sad parts of the world and the news media is loosing the objectivity over it.

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posted by Pramit Singh @ 2:43 PM 1 Comments