There is one group of computer users it's never a good idea to offend. They are like Jose Mourinho. They regard themselves as the 'special ones'. They act as if they are superior. They look down their noses at the ninety per cent of people who haven't followed them into the Kingdom of the Self-Righteous. They are the Chelsea supporters of the computer world. Ladies and gentlemen, I am of course referring to the users of Apple Macs.
They will be up in arms today over the news that they won't be able to access programmes of the BBC iPlayer. I remember very well the uproar there was among Mac users when 18 Doughty Street first launched and they couldn't stream it. You would have thought the world was coming to an end. They demanded that every waking hour at Doughty Street was devoted to finding a solution. The happy result was that a solution was indeed found and as far as I know all is now well.
We did that on a budget a fraction of the size of the BBC. Yet the BBC, having spent millions on the development of its iPlayer holds out little hope to Mac users of ever finding a solution.
The BBC. It's what we don't.
49 comments:
I wrote about this a couple of weeks ago.
The irony is that they should pinch the nomenclature made popular by Apple (iPod, iMac, iPlayer) and then make it incompatible.
There is no reason why it shouldn't work (Channel 4 are promising that their client will soon work with Macs) cross-platform except that the BBC signed up to use Microsoft's proprietory DRM.
But -- hey! -- read my post...
DK
I thought that Apple Mac users being the "special ones" didn't watch the BBC only special TV like 18 Doughty Street....
OSX is Unix, it won't take long for a workaround - unfortunately you're average MAC user won't be able to exploit but there you go
How about giving us a discount off the licence as a quid pro quo?
oh yes, and the DRM will broken pretty quick too.
Then MAC users won't risk any withdrawal symptoms when the bbc is abolished.
as I've blogged, the BBC trust asked them to find a solution for other platforms, 'soon', but the Beeb themselves couldn't commit to undertaking this within 2 years!
I was struck with similar thoughts recently because I can’t stream BBC audio at the moment – this is using Windows XP and realplayer. I’ve complained and received one pointless reply so far.
On the internet, and indeed life in general, some things just work a treat and other things suck big time.
Ive just joined the 10%. Sick to death of stupid Vista! - I'm a Mac convert after one weekend
Who cares if I cant read the Brownite propaganda being peddaled by the BBC
I am not a fully paid up geek but on past form, the problem with I-player will be the stuff they don't want you to know about and that the Mac is simply protecting itself.
I will explain.
BBC uses a program called Real Player a lot.
Real player's relationship with the BBC is not clear, and I do not understand why Windows Media Player is not sufficient, but what is clear is that RP it is a nasty piece of work with designs on taking over your computer and bending it to its own will.
Real Player is well known for its spyware and its tenacious grip on your computer settings. A myth was perpetrated that the BBC version was a special shit-free version but according to RP insiders, this is not the case.
I would want to know an awful lot more about this i-player before I downloaded it, since the BBC can no longer be trusted to do anything the honest way.
update
just found this
http://blogs.business2.com/apple/2007/04/bbcs_iplayer_re.html
which says that the compatibility problem is being addressed.
I have been chatting about Doughty Street with Bloggers that would be vaguely known to you and we had some ideas about how it might be better .Or at least how the medium might be used in different ways by others by others
1 The quality of delivery ( not content ) is to poor for regular evening viewing and it does not fit with habits as they are
2 There is far too much . If politically engaged people like us are bored what is it like for passing trade. Less and better.
3 What is it for . Is it for Bloggers , is it for Political Bloggers or is it for professional polticos who happen to blog ?
Grass roots Blogging is left out
Arts and Lit. Blogging is left out
Comedy Blogging is left out
Sex is left out …( and that cannot be good )
Etc.
Also discussions are framed excessively formerly and there is considerable political correctness . I assume this is because the people funding the exercise want what is a Spectator sort of magazine but there is huge scope for a Mail or Sun or Private Eye Hallo, Sun ( the big market in fact )….and generally a lot more fun could be had with the medium . Most of all I would say there is scope for a Blog show reflecting more of the different types of writing going on..
Perhaps a few of the Z list should get together and have a think about it........
( Through the round window)
Tonight on Doughty Street some unknown Politician says what he has been practising for the last few years
Tonight on Manianvision – We talk sex with a naked woman , New writing on the Web , Blog chatting…and a bit of politics involving shouting and bad tempers.
In that case shouldn't they drop the "i-"?
Surely the one slight problem about this story is that it isn't, er, true..?
I though the whole point if iPlayer was that whereas originally piloted as being 'Windows', when the go ahead was given for a full rollout, it was decided that it should be mac-compatible.
Mind you, it wouldn't be the first time this week an inaccurate story has appeared on Iain Dale..
"Initially, the service will use Microsoft digital rights software and will not work on Apple Mac computers. The trust accepted that launching the iPlayer on other platforms was dependent on third parties but said it should be a priority and it would review progress every six months."
Guardian, May 1st..
Doughty certainly streams fine on all my Apple Macs. You'd have guessed I'd be a left-footer on this no doubt? So are many people in the BBC prime demographic, particularly in their home contexts. There is no getting away from the fact that more PCs have been shipped but they are disposible and less enduring and most people who give Macs a fair trial love 'em.
I do have a couple of PCs too. But rubbish.
I agree that Mac owners can seem a little self righteous at times, but they're not a bad lot. The situation they face is comparable to that of a small business in an industry dominated by a huge single monopoly.
Also, if no one makes things compatible with OSX or Linux, Microsoft's monopoloy will never be seriously challenged. Consequently you will never get real innovation as the market isn't competetive, leading to the conclusion that making the iPlayer compatible with a Mac is beneficial to Windows users.
Gosh, Iain, yes - who can't remember the uproar and lobbying that went on when a couple of Mac users couldn't access 18DS......
"Using Parallels Desktop my Mac runs XP faster than most PCs and boots up in about 4 seconds" he said smugly.
"Do I look bovvered?"
Iain you don’t seem quite sure who to kick on this occasion
Apple Corp or the BBC
So you have a good go at both
Don’t
Let me help you disentangle your boots
The BBC should be offering iPlayer as platform neutral
for as long as it is publicly funded
When it’s part of MSBBC that’s a different matter
As for Apple it is a technology lead, design lead, privately owned though publicly listed, profit seeking company
Sure its punters have always paid a premium price for the privilege of signing up to an operating system that’s intuitive, and lately, to its brave new world of brilliant white and brushed steel
Iain as you know iPods are in
But is capitalism out of fashion in Mr Dale’s Tory Party?
18 Doughty St could have chosen to ignore a potential audience
It’s privately funded and good luck to it
But it didn’t
Apple is an innovator
Like you
And like you
when it isn’t
it either becomes a tired old monopoly
or
it goes out of business
"They act as if they are superior."
We are.
;)
I'm sorry, Iain, you appear to be suggesting that somebody makes computers other than Apple. Who?
Even though Mac Users may be only 10% of the market, always remember that we are the top 10%.
...having spent millions of our bloody telly tax pounds.
The BBC is a load of inefficient biased rubbish, and should lose it's charter.
Hey, Iain, that's a bit over the top. Just because us Mac addicts are used to a vastly superior, more reliable and elegant computing experience than you PC people, we don't behave like Chelsea supporters. Some of us support Man U. One or two may even support West Ham.
"I am of course referring to the users of Apple Macs."
Whereas Amiga users know they are superior.
MacJockeys - I thought they only surfed iTunes and PopBitch.
We are a 'Mitchell and Webb' family - one PC running Windows, one Mac. The Mac is vastly better, almost no spam, never crashes, easy to use. I don't feel particularly superior, but it's a pity that PC's are the global norm (with Bill Gates' iffy software) and not Macs.
Those recent adverts of PC vs Mac just give off the impression that a Mac is for those who lack the sophistication to use a PC.
You mean only MS users can catch up on Eastenders??
That's a real shame.
What you say is odd really because Macs are no longer special software running on special hardware. Nowadays they essentially are the Unix operating system running on Intel processors.
Its a bit like a Rolls-Royce now being a badge label for VW.
You comment would be true for earlier Mac systems (which did perform very well).
I am one of them, I'm afraid. I can bore for Britain on the superiority of Mac OS etc etc ... but before eyes glaze over, this BBC issue is actually important.
1. We don't pay our licence fee to have the BBC push Microsoft Windows vs any other operating system choice.
2. It's another example of the BBC using its tax-funded dominance to squash enterprise and competition.
3. Minor but irksome: for god's sake, what company and its fans made the "i" prefix trendy anyway?! Calling a non-Mac accessible system "iBloodyAnyoneButMac" is just adding insult to injury.
If as I understand it, this also ties into iPlayer videos not being compatable with (Apple's) iPods, the BBC has just shot itself in the foot in a spectacular act of stupidity.
If this problem is not fixed tout suite, iPlayer will rapidly disappear without trace.
[2br02b]
Who gives a mac ,I have my trusty pc's, one with Linux on it ,knowing somewhere in a far off land a geek will be working on any problems I have, for nothing ,well Vista ,I have it on a laptop ,but will have to wait until sp2 comes out ,the problem is within a few years MS has another OS on it's way, XP is ok ,do people still use realplayer ,VLC and classic media player are better.
How do us chelsea fas act superior? I would be curious to know... I think you are confusing our collective attitude with that of our manager. Who IS superior ;o)
I don't know anything about technology but I am a Chelsea supporter. And a socialist. Dunno why I'm reading this blog!
Iain,
You appear not to have read the BBC Trust's report, which explains in depths the technical limitations concerned with the public value test. In it, they explain why they support the BBC Executive's view that a DRM-based approach strikes a balance between "providing free access as part of the service funded by the licence fee, and exploiting the secondary value of content commerically in order to generate revenue to invest back into services" (p8).
The DRM method which, the Trust says, best serves all rights holders (which doesn't just include the BBC, but independent production companies, music companies whose material is used, etc.) is one that allows time-based restrictions. And at the moment, the only platform which offers that is, unfortunately, Microsoft's Windows Media Player.
As for saying the BBC "holds out little hope to Mac users of ever finding a solution", well, that's just plain wrong. The BBC Trust reiterate at several points throughout their report that they consider platform neutrality to be a "vitally important principle". In their initial PVT document prior to the last consultation round, they made it clear that they considered that the iPlayer should be made cross-platform with a reasonable time. The final report says that they will be closely auditing the process, but are stopping short of imposing a deadline because that could make the BBC's negotiations with third parties trickier.
The BBC are in a far from ideal situation, from what I can see: they can either launch VOD solutions at the same time as the rest of the market (ITV's new broadband offering is due to go live in a couple of weeks, I understand) to Windows users only and work on cross-platform complatibility -- which, presumably, will then spur the commercial sectors (who are all Windows-only at the moment) to do the same. Or, they can delay launching any VOD offering until the cross-platform issues have been resolved, and be subject to even more carping that they're not allowing any licence fee payers on-demand access.
I didn't know that about Realplayer. Is their icon the same as Quicktime? I've got two different icons on my toolbar, both claiming to be Quicktime, which struct me as odd.
Also, what is Quicktime for?
Don't agree with Newmania. I like Doughty Street very much - most of the time. The only problem is, sometimes the sound is terribly poor and one cannot adjust it. Also, it keeps freezing.
Can I object to this prejudice in the strongest terms? I'm a chelsea fan and deeply resent being associated with Apple Mac users. I have enough social problems without any additional stigma.
Hmmm..Iain, If the BBC are so anti-mac, why is almost every other Robert Peston article slating MS Vista ??
This new delivery platform for BBC programmes is Robin Hood in reverse.
I pay £134 for BBC made programmes. Poor families on crime ridden estates pay £134 for the programmes.
Now the bed-wetting types at the BBC think its a great idea to make the programmes available free to much wealthier people all around the world.
The BBC loves to think of itself as the "peoples' friend". This new platform is nothing more than wealth transfer from the people of Great Britain to the wealthy of the world.
What a load of Bollocks. Shame on the BBC this is a much bigger scandal that the premium rate quiz lines: you go to jail for not paying for the BBC in the UK, whilst anyone anywhere else in the world can view it free.
All very tricky the BBC State Broadcaster maneuveing itself into a "New Media" role that it thinks it should be dominating, using a communist syle dictatorial funding method to achieve this.
DRM is Microsofts hiddeen monopolistic trick in broadcasting. Apple is being forced by EU to look at an open platform to replace their iTunes proprietary stuff so when can we expect the EU to do its job as regards free trade and anti-trust and force DRM to be a multi-platform standard.
Of course MS could develop latest Media Player for OSX - but they decided to stop that last year.
One of the reasons I refuse to get an iPod (apart from battery issues) is their requirement to use their iTunes system. With my MD player I can download anything I like in any format and record it straight to my MD. Recording CDs is a doddle too. No fannying around required except when it comes to the simple task of track marking.
According to MacWorld:
BBC will support Macs in iPlayer
BBC new media boss confirms Mac support for BBC online plans "a priority".
http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?RSS&newsID=17799
The report says: BBC Head of Futures Ashley Highfield slammed Apple's "proprietary and closed framework for DRM"
This displays a deep and profoud ignorance of the actual technical situation. It is not Apple's DRM that is the problem, but the highly restrictive, highly intrusive DRM foised on the BBC by their getting into to bed with Microsoft.
Supping with the Devil is bad enough, but sleeping with him...? What did they expect?
[2br02b]
Can anyone explain to me why the BBC is launching Video on Demand as a free service in the first place? If I remember rightly, the BBC stands for British Broadcasting Corporation and try as I might I can't make logging on to a website and downloading programs to watch at my convenience broadcasting.
What I can see is that radio frequency video media is rapidly becoming an anachronism. What percentage of the viewing public do so on a set that isn't plugged into the wall for power & aerial? Direct cable with all it's advantages in bandwidth & interaction is the future. The dividing line between what is a computer and what is a TV are blurring and will soon disappear. If I wanted to answer my own question I would say that the BBC is positioning itself to request that the Licence Fee requirement be extended to anyone using a computer connected to the internet. It'll use the argument that it's making it's program content available on the net to justify it. The logic will run - you have an internet connection therefore you have equipment capable of receiving programming therefore we will attach a £??? surcharge on your bill.
Incidentally, 'tone made me do it's' point about BBC content being made free around the world to the detriment of UK licence payers is why I'm suspicious of a back-door Licence fee grab. The DRM is being implemented precisely so that BBC content won't be free around the world. Only we in the UK will get it for 'free' so that's why we'll have to pay for it.
The punch line is that inevitably some bright spark will crack the DRM and then the only ones who'll be paying for it is us, which is where we came in.
What's an Apple Mac anyway?
Just to correct some of the wilder things said by both Iain and some of the comments here.
It has always been the intention of the BBC to offer the iPlayer on as many platforms as possible - including Apple Macs.
The BBC Trust have now said that they will now ask BBC management to report on progress towards this every 6 months.
Scott Matthewman has it right. Here is a link to the press release which explains it all.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/news/press_releases/30_04_2007.html
I quote:
"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."
I long ago gave up on the idea that people would judge the BBC by what we actually say we are going to do, rather than the misleading information on blogs and in the press.
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