BBC and Microsoft sign agreement

Posted by: tahir

BBC and Microsoft sign agreement - 29/09/2006 08:30

Mark Thompson has been on a fact-finding tour in the US
The BBC has signed an agreement with Microsoft to explore ways of developing its digital services:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/5390000.stm
Posted by: g_attrill

Re: BBC and Microsoft sign agreement - 29/09/2006 09:43

My first thought was "yuck, no thanks, the BBC has done just fine up to now thanks", but if it invoves technology transfer that the BBC wouldn't otherwise be able to get then it is possibly a good thing. The one thing I wouldn't want to see is MS profiting from innovation paid for by UK licence-fee payers, but since MS is a profit-making company they will always be looking to gain revenues from whatever they do.
Posted by: peter

Re: BBC and Microsoft sign agreement - 29/09/2006 15:24

Quote:
My first thought was "yuck, no thanks, the BBC has done just fine up to now thanks", but if it invoves technology transfer that the BBC wouldn't otherwise be able to get then it is possibly a good thing. The one thing I wouldn't want to see is MS profiting from innovation paid for by UK licence-fee payers, but since MS is a profit-making company they will always be looking to gain revenues from whatever they do.

My concern with this is more about increased Microsoft lock-in, driven by BBC services that use Microsoft technology, where they could otherwise have used more open technology. As a Brit and a licence-fee payer, I've already paid for this stuff to be made once; I realise that it's an important part of the BBC's budget that people in other countries to have to pay towards it too, but I certainly don't want people having to pay Microsoft in order to enjoy content I've already paid for them to have.

Peter
Posted by: tahir

Re: BBC and Microsoft sign agreement - 29/09/2006 15:33

I agree with Peter, the last thing I want is for part of my licence fee going to MS to license stuff like wma dowloads or whatever, what's wrong with mp3 and divx? I thought they'd finally seen the light by moving away from Real Media to mp3 (in a limited way).

Real shame, but I suppose now that their own tech dept is owned by Siemens it was inevitable that something like this would happen.
Posted by: sein

Re: BBC and Microsoft sign agreement - 29/09/2006 16:26

The BBC used to be cool. They had OGG streaming of radio back in 2002 (old news), showing their support for open codecs. It seems to be a step backwards now joining with Microsoft.
Posted by: boxer

Re: BBC and Microsoft sign agreement - 29/09/2006 17:02

Change the slogan:"Nation shall speak peace unto nation" to "BBC shall force Gates unto nations"
Posted by: andym

Re: BBC and Microsoft sign agreement - 30/09/2006 00:06

Quote:
The BBC used to be cool.


Go to the next R&D open day (assuming they have another one), then tell me that statement is still true. Those guy's operate on a different level. Forget Google's army of nerds, it's like having a whole department of Patricks! There have been several R&D projects that've been open-sourced, in fact the java ATM (network stuff, not cash machine) classes were written by a guy working for the beeb. Look at dirac which is an open-source video codec.

It's a shame the BBC is moving away from stuff like that. They just keep selling stuff off.

Also remember that because the BBC don't make everything they show they don't always have control of what they do with it.

They're more than capable of making every radio show available for download as a .flac and keep an archive of shows stretching back years. The thing that stops them is licences and agreements, that's why they use a format that is less than straightforward to copy/save and only make them available for a week after transmission.
Posted by: sein

Re: BBC and Microsoft sign agreement - 30/09/2006 05:09

Quote:
Go to the next R&D open day (assuming they have another one)

Ok, well just looking around the BBC's R&D website shows that they are cool, but I still with they would continue their promising experiment with open codecs.

R&D Open Day sounds like awesome fun, still trying to find out details on that.
Posted by: andy

Re: BBC and Microsoft sign agreement - 30/09/2006 05:18

It tends to be in September each year, the R&D department is just up the road from us.

We went to the open day a couple of years ago.

http://www.norman.cx/photos/default.asp_...en%20open%20day

I haven't seen and publicity about it this year though.

We have always found out about the open days through http://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/
Posted by: sein

Re: BBC and Microsoft sign agreement - 30/09/2006 06:28

Thanks Andy. I will definately go to an Open Day if they do another one and I find out the date. I've hit a bit of a dead end finding more information online so I will email them soon and see what they say. If I find a date I'll post it up if anyone wants to join me.