Wednesday 1 August 2007

A feature, not a bug

Doctorvee writes about the BBC's new "iPlayer".

He isn't impressed:

I mean, just look at it. You can’t use it on a Mac. You can’t use it on Linux. You can’t even use it on the latest version of Windows. And even if you are lucky enough to be using the correct operating system, you have to be using the right browser.
I'm not really surprised. We're dealing with the same phenomenon as when the NHS brings in a new computer system. Governments are all about force. That's what makes them different from civil society. The BBC, like the NHS, is never going to give priority to the customer. That's not in its nature.

1 comment:

David Farrer said...

Comment made on previous template:

doctorvee
That might be a fair point were it not for the fact that the DRM that causes all of those problems was forced onto the BBC by production companies and performers. Similar efforts by other broadcasters have the same problem -- DRM plagues the entire entertainment industry's attempts to serve internet users. 
 
The point is that you would hope that the BBC would been able to shun DRM because of its duty to serve the whole of the public (not just, say, XP users) -- but the commercial interests of the entertainment industry won the battle.

1 August 2007, 17:53:36 GMT+01:00