This discussion seems to be becoming a little cyclical... I've seen a lot of comments to this end on public forae, blogs and web sites too - mostly complaining about the features, or lack thereof, that have already been discussed at length on here.
I think the problem a lot of people new to this discussion (or maybe even this list) aren't made fully aware of is the fact that the Beeb was basically over a barrel for certain requirements - including the restrictive DRM implementation. It's the copyright holders and the respective royalty organisations who, from what I can tell, demanded most of the restrictions and requirements for the iPlayer as it now exists. I'm pretty sure if the BBC had just been given carte blanche to develop a P2P download system for their content, they would've come up with a much more bittorrenty solution. Remember the news that the Beeb was partnering with Zudeo (Azureus v3) for American content distribution? Whatever happened to that? As I see it, the iPlayer in its current incarnation is nothing more than a stopgap until the BBC can work a manageable, appropriate solution. It's not just the BBC decision making on this project, other factions have a lot more sway in the most important areas (content protection and management, distribution etc) and as an interim solution Kontiki was the only scheme to meet the current requirements. Finally, I'm also quite confident that the BBC will pull something much better out the hat, but it'll take time. They still did the right thing by going with the best of a bad choice of options, and at least providing the Windows community with a working (for most) solution, because otherwise I think the project would've been in danger of never getting off the ground at all. Once you have something up and running, and people are using it, you can take that idea and run with it - improving on it along the way. BBC bods - even if it isn't perfect (yet), your efforts are definitely appreciated - and we know that the iPlayer project isn't set in stone, and things could (and hopefully will) change for the better in the future with regards to platform agnosticism and improvements on the DRM scheme. Your efforts are appreciated and I'm sure I speak for many others when I say that, too! I think I'm going to get really tired with having to explain just why the iPlayer isn't actually 'finished', and why it's restricted in the way it is, now that the project is being made fully public... If only more people understood just how the BBC sources its content and the complexities behind it! Someone who can phrase these concepts much more concisely should write a blog article which we can then all reference in future discussions with people who are new to iPlayer :) > -----Original Message----- > From: Martin Belam [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: 28 July 2007 20:56 > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [backstage] iPlayer Today? > > >> So what is the time frame on a cross platform version? A week, A > month, 2 months, shouldn't be any more than that at most > unless iPlayer was not written well. Anyone CS graduate knows > how to do platform independent coding, somebody at the BBC > must know how to do it. > > <snip patronising hints> > > >> That's pretty much the basics the rest is common sense really. > > > Andy, it would probably also be common sense to read around > on the topic before insulting the majority of the BBC > developers who frequent this list. > > It is the requirement to have time-windowed DRM > implementation, not the ability to write cross-platform code, > that is the issue. > > See the response to Vijay's FOI request earlier in this list: > > "At the time, the only two solutions deployed at scale on the > internet were Microsoft's DRM, and Apple's Fairplay DRM. > Fairplay did not include the ability to expire content, and > therefore could not meet the minimum requirements for our > rights at all." > > http://vjchopra.googlepages.com/RFI2007000558-finalresponse.pdf > > > > > And this from the BBC Trust in April, which envisages a much > longer timeframe than your suggestion > > > > > "The Trust has noted the strong public demand for platform > neutrality and is concerned to ensure that the BBC meets this > demand as soon as possible. The Trust acknowledges the BBC's > commitment to platform neutrality and has taken account of > the Executive's response that a two year deadline is > unworkable because success is dependent on third parties > outside of the BBC's control. However, in the interest of > those members of the public who will be disadvantaged until > this matter is resolved, the Trust will audit the BBC's > progress against this objective every six months and publish > its findings." > > > > > cheers, > martin > > > On 28/07/07, Christopher Woods <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Problem's not fixed. > > > > Suggested a solution (a checkbox or some other on/off switch > > mechanism, off by default, to enable background transfers > only whilst > > main application is > > open) - given that I don't fully understand every single > way in which > > Kontiki works (although I've wrestled with it as a user for > quite some > > time even before 4OD) I'm somewhat certain it's doable. > > > > I'm having real issues with (ironically) installs of Kontiki-using > > apps - 4OD's refusing to go away even though it's uninstalled (some > > remnants of the interface chrome are left) so it likes to appear in > > the taskbar, as does the BBC Film Network download trial > client - even > > though iPlayer is the only one deliberately loading at > startup! Ho hum > > :D Lots of people are going to have SO many problems with > > SkyByBroadband (sorry, Sky Anytime) and iPlayer, it's almost not > > funny. I understand why they chose an 0870 number for their > telephone > > support (granted, they'd be snowed under with all kinds of relevant > > and irrelevant requests if they had an 0121 or 0800! And I > suppose it > > is fair that the service pays for itself instead of be yet another > > thing which comes out of the license fee, meaning everybody > pays but only a few use). > > > > Right, breakfast. > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: Andy [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Sent: 28 July 2007 14:24 > > > To: [email protected] > > > Subject: Re: [backstage] iPlayer Today? > > > > > > On 28/07/07, mike chamberlain <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > I'd guess it's because Bittorrent gets traffic shaped out > > > of existance > > > > on a lot of ISP's. > > > > > > Once ISP's see how much traffic Kontiki generates they > won't traffic > > > shape it? > > > Could always use encrypted bit torrent. > > > > > > I would imagine an ISP would prefer Bit Torrent to Kontiki, Bit > > > Torrent stops transmitting if you close the application down. > > > Kontiki keeps running as a process, hidden from the task bar. You > > > have to go into Task Manager to get rid of it. > > > > > > Read the 4OD forums, last time I did most posts where > warnings about > > > how bad Kontiki is and how it got people's internet account > > > suspended. > > > > > > Of course this is only a problem if you have limited monthly > > > bandwidth. Very few ISPs don't impose some limit (many call there > > > plan "unlimited" but have a "fair usage policy", which means you > > > aren't allowed to use as much bandwidth as you want). > > > > > > Really sucks when you open up an application to download > one program > > > and later find out that your ISP has cut you off because when you > > > clicked close the downloader kept going. > > > > > > Of course the BBC may have fixed this problem, anyone on > the trail > > > (or the BBC itself) care to confirm whether this is the case? > > > > > > Andy > > > > > > -- > > > Computers are like air conditioners. Both stop working, > if you open > > > windows. > > > -- Adam Heath > > > - > > > Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To > unsubscribe, > > > please visit > > > http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. > > > Unofficial list archive: > > > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > > > - > > Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, > > please visit > > http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. > > Unofficial list archive: > > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > > > > -- > Martin Belam - http://www.currybet.net > - > Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To > unsubscribe, please visit > http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. > Unofficial list archive: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ - Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. 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