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#287283 - 29/09/2006 08:30 BBC and Microsoft sign agreement
tahir pooh-bah Registered: 27/02/2004 Posts: 1914 Loc: London	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
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#287284 - 29/09/2006 09:43 Re: BBC and Microsoft sign agreement [Re: tahir]
g_attrill old hand Registered: 14/04/2002 Posts: 1172 Loc: Hants, UK	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.
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#287285 - 29/09/2006 15:24 Re: BBC and Microsoft sign agreement [Re: g_attrill]
peter carpal tunnel Registered: 13/07/2000 Posts: 4180 Loc: Cambridge, England	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
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#287286 - 29/09/2006 15:33 Re: BBC and Microsoft sign agreement [Re: peter]
tahir pooh-bah Registered: 27/02/2004 Posts: 1914 Loc: London	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.
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#287287 - 29/09/2006 16:26 Re: BBC and Microsoft sign agreement [Re: tahir]
sein old hand Registered: 07/01/2005 Posts: 893 Loc: Sector ZZ9pZa	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. _________________________ Hussein
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#287288 - 29/09/2006 17:02 Re: BBC and Microsoft sign agreement [Re: sein]
boxer pooh-bah Registered: 16/04/2002 Posts: 2011 Loc: Yorkshire UK	Change the slogan:"Nation shall speak peace unto nation" to "BBC shall force Gates unto nations" _________________________ Politics and Ideology: Not my bag
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#287289 - 30/09/2006 00:06 Re: BBC and Microsoft sign agreement [Re: sein]
andym carpal tunnel Registered: 17/01/2002 Posts: 3996 Loc: Manchester UK	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. _________________________ Cheers, Andy M
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#287290 - 30/09/2006 05:09 Re: BBC and Microsoft sign agreement [Re: andym]
sein old hand Registered: 07/01/2005 Posts: 893 Loc: Sector ZZ9pZa	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. _________________________ Hussein
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#287291 - 30/09/2006 05:18 Re: BBC and Microsoft sign agreement [Re: sein]
andy carpal tunnel Registered: 10/06/1999 Posts: 5916 Loc: Wivenhoe, Essex, UK	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/ Edited by andy (30/09/2006 05:39) _________________________ Remind me to change my signature to something more interesting someday
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#287292 - 30/09/2006 06:28 Re: BBC and Microsoft sign agreement [Re: andy]
sein old hand Registered: 07/01/2005 Posts: 893 Loc: Sector ZZ9pZa	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. _________________________ Hussein
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