[News] [Rights] BBC Director General lies about iPlayer to Government
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[H]omer
Commons Public Accounts Committee, over why the BBC wasted 20 million
UKP on the iPlayer.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6W1XIwSB27A (8 minutes)
Partial transcript:
Dr. Pugh : So at what stage will we be able to fully *download* and
stream to a Mac or a Linux computer?
Thomson : You can do that now
Dr. Pugh : Both of them?
Thomson : Yeah
*LIE!*
http://iplayersupport.external.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/bbciplayer.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=30
See also (Roy posted earlier):
http://www.openrightsgroup.org/2008/01/10/bbc-director-general-grilled-by-mps-on-iplayer/
Pugh asks some more tough questions, like:
Q: How much did it cost to develop the iPlayer
A: More than 20 Million (no precise figures to hand)
Q: How long did it take to develop
A: No answer
Q: What was the cost to make it interoperable
A: No answer
[On the BBC's motives for finally seeking interoperability]
Q: It had nothing to do with the protests that were voiced at the time?
It had nothing to do with the fact that your group controller of
future technology actually came from Microsoft?
A: People feared that we might be planning a sort of cosy and exclusive
relationship with Microsoft. That was always planned. It was a
requirement of the BBC trust.
Note: That was *exactly* how Thomson answered, although the "it" he was
actually referring to was "interoperability", not the "cosy and
exclusive relationship with Microsoft". However, given the fact that the
BBC *do* in fact have a "cosy and exclusive relationship with
Microsoft", it makes it not only quite funny and ironic, but probably
the only truthful thing (albeit a Freudian slip) that he said during the
whole interrogation.
More:
Q: Why in a sense did you develop your own piece of kit, because there
are actually things you could have procured? I mean BTVision is one
product, BitTorrent is another, which are both developed and fully
interoperable.
A: Ah, ah, um, um, ah, ah, er, er, the system, er, um, the client, er.
(Queue Steve Jobs style speech, but with lots of stuttering).
Q: But can you not understand the view, that you spent 20 million,
clearly much more than that, on developing this piece of apparatus;
the application; which when it downloads the marvellous content of
the BBC, can't even tell me how much I've downloaded in terms of
megabytes, and so on, can it? BitTorrent can tell me how much I've
downloaded, but the BBC can't tell me (cites broadband caps).
A: Wi, wi, wi, wi, wi, we, er, er, wi, wi, megabitage, er. To be honest,
er, er, um, er. Simple. Um. Sense and Sensibility, ah, er, ah, to be
honest, um.
No wonder Mark "to be honest" Thomson is stuttering so much, with such a
bunch of lies as that. And in parliament ... and on camera too! His new
columnist, Bill Gates, must be paying him well.
--
K.
http://slated.org
.----
| "[Microsoft] are willing to lose money for years and years just to
| make sure that you don't make any money, either." - Bob Cringely.
| - http://blog.businessofsoftware.org/2007/07/cringely-the-un.html
`----
Fedora release 8 (Werewolf) on sky, running kernel 2.6.23.8-63.fc8
01:56:10 up 23 days, 23:32, 5 users, load average: 0.05, 0.02, 0.00
Hadron
> The BBC Director General, Mark Thomson, is interrogated by the House of
> Commons Public Accounts Committee, over why the BBC wasted 20 million
> UKP on the iPlayer.
>
> http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6W1XIwSB27A (8 minutes)
>
> Partial transcript:
>
> Dr. Pugh : So at what stage will we be able to fully *download* and
> stream to a Mac or a Linux computer?
"download and stream"?
> Thomson : You can do that now
> Dr. Pugh : Both of them?
> Thomson : Yeah
>
> *LIE!*
You can stream now.
>
> http://iplayersupport.external.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/bbciplayer.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=30
>
> See also (Roy posted earlier):
>
> http://www.openrightsgroup.org/2008/01/10/bbc-director-general-grilled-by-mps-on-iplayer/
>
> Pugh asks some more tough questions, like:
>
> Q: How much did it cost to develop the iPlayer
> A: More than 20 Million (no precise figures to hand)
Shocking isn't it. Who developed it?
spi...@freenet.co.uk
> "[H]omer" <sp...@uce.gov> writes:
>> The BBC Director General, Mark Thomson, is interrogated by the House of
>> Commons Public Accounts Committee, over why the BBC wasted 20 million
>> UKP on the iPlayer.
>>
>> http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6W1XIwSB27A (8 minutes)
>>
>> Partial transcript:
>>
>> Dr. Pugh : So at what stage will we be able to fully *download* and
>> stream to a Mac or a Linux computer?
> "download and stream"?
Yes, download AND stream.
>> Thomson : You can do that now
>> Dr. Pugh : Both of them?
>> Thomson : Yeah
>>
>> *LIE!*
> You can stream now.
So what?
--
______________________________________________________________________________
| spi...@freenet.co.uk | "Are you pondering what I'm pondering Pinky?" |
|Andrew Halliwell BSc(hons)| |
| in | "I think so brain, but this time, you control |
| Computer Science | the Encounter suit, and I'll do the voice..." |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Roy Schestowitz
> No wonder Mark "to be honest" Thomson is stuttering so much, with such a
> bunch of lies as that. And in parliament ... and on camera too! His new
> columnist, Bill Gates, must be paying him well.
Priceless!
I don't know if you know this, but the BBC has become so frightened of
awareness that its heads started responding in one of my blogs. They are
really desperate to defend themselves and they do using all sorts of pointers
and false claims.
But, hey! There are only 400-600 people on the BBC Web site, right Ashley? To
heck with Linux. Maybe he should also stop using Google...
--
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | Vista - Windows for zombies (and human beings)
http://Schestowitz.com | Free as in Free Beer | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
Cpu(s): 24.9%us, 4.0%sy, 1.0%ni, 65.9%id, 3.7%wa, 0.3%hi, 0.1%si, 0.0%st
http://iuron.com - semantic engine to gather information
Roy Schestowitz
> Hadron <hadro...@googlemail.com> did eloquently scribble:
>> "[H]omer" <sp...@uce.gov> writes:
>
>>> The BBC Director General, Mark Thomson, is interrogated by the House of
>>> Commons Public Accounts Committee, over why the BBC wasted 20 million
>>> UKP on the iPlayer.
>>>
>>> http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6W1XIwSB27A (8 minutes)
>>>
>>> Partial transcript:
>>>
>>> Dr. Pugh : So at what stage will we be able to fully *download* and
>>> stream to a Mac or a Linux computer?
>
>> "download and stream"?
>
> Yes, download AND stream.
Mind you, I'm 90% certain that the BBC even considered .NET for streaming
(Silverlight), based on the Register and the Observer (or was it another
publication?).
>>> Thomson : You can do that now
>>> Dr. Pugh : Both of them?
>>> Thomson : Yeah
>>>
>>> *LIE!*
>
>> You can stream now.
>
> So what?
Will people have the money spent on iPlayer back? Why does Windows get a 'fast
lane' with high-quality video?
--
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | "Life is too short to proofread"
http://Schestowitz.com | RHAT Linux | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
08:20:01 up 34 days, 21:08, 4 users, load average: 0.86, 1.05, 1.69
http://iuron.com - Open Source knowledge engine project
Moshe Goldfarb
> ____/ [H]omer on Monday 14 January 2008 01:57 : \____
>
>> No wonder Mark "to be honest" Thomson is stuttering so much, with such a
>> bunch of lies as that. And in parliament ... and on camera too! His new
>> columnist, Bill Gates, must be paying him well.
>
> Priceless!
>
> I don't know if you know this, but the BBC has become so frightened of
> awareness that its heads started responding in one of my blogs. They are
> really desperate to defend themselves and they do using all sorts of pointers
> and false claims.
>
> But, hey! There are only 400-600 people on the BBC Web site, right Ashley? To
> heck with Linux. Maybe he should also stop using Google...
I'm sure you have attracted some big guns but not for the reasons you might
believe.
Hopefully you have a good attorney because with the reams unsubstantiated
hash you sling, you are eventually going to need one.
My 3 brothers are attorneys so I can provide references should you need
help.
In fact you might already know them:
Duie, Cheetem and Howe.
Tell them Moshe sent you and they will cut you a great deal.
Promise.
Mark Kent
> ____/ [H]omer on Monday 14 January 2008 01:57 : \____
>
>> No wonder Mark "to be honest" Thomson is stuttering so much, with such a
>> bunch of lies as that. And in parliament ... and on camera too! His new
>> columnist, Bill Gates, must be paying him well.
>
> Priceless!
>
> I don't know if you know this, but the BBC has become so frightened of
> awareness that its heads started responding in one of my blogs. They are
> really desperate to defend themselves and they do using all sorts of pointers
> and false claims.
>
> But, hey! There are only 400-600 people on the BBC Web site, right Ashley? To
> heck with Linux. Maybe he should also stop using Google...
>
They have dug a wonderfully deep hole here. There is really no excuse
for paying out £100 millions of licence-payer cash on a skin for
silverlight which supports, err, Microsoft Vista, not Firefox, not Mac,
not Linux, virtually zero mobile devices, virtually zero appliances.
Mr Thomson should be ashamed of himself, claiming that he couldn't say
what the cost of this thing was, having turned up to talk about it.
This should be a job loser.
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
| Cola faq: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/linux/advocacy/faq-and-primer/ |
| Cola trolls: http://colatrolls.blogspot.com/ |
| My (new) blog: http://www.thereisnomagic.org |
Mark Kent
> ____/ spi...@freenet.co.uk on Monday 14 January 2008 05:17 : \____
>
>> Hadron <hadro...@googlemail.com> did eloquently scribble:
>>> "[H]omer" <sp...@uce.gov> writes:
>>
>>>> The BBC Director General, Mark Thomson, is interrogated by the House of
>>>> Commons Public Accounts Committee, over why the BBC wasted 20 million
>>>> UKP on the iPlayer.
>>>>
>>>> http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6W1XIwSB27A (8 minutes)
>>>>
>>>> Partial transcript:
>>>>
>>>> Dr. Pugh : So at what stage will we be able to fully *download* and
>>>> stream to a Mac or a Linux computer?
>>
>>> "download and stream"?
>>
>> Yes, download AND stream.
>
> Mind you, I'm 90% certain that the BBC even considered .NET for streaming
> (Silverlight), based on the Register and the Observer (or was it another
> publication?).
>
I'm sure they did...
>>>> Thomson : You can do that now
>>>> Dr. Pugh : Both of them?
>>>> Thomson : Yeah
>>>>
>>>> *LIE!*
>>
>>> You can stream now.
>>
>> So what?
>
> Will people have the money spent on iPlayer back? Why does Windows get a 'fast
> lane' with high-quality video?
>
No, that money, that licence-fee cash, is now in a Microsoft bank
account, and will never come back. This was a culpable waste of public
funds, and those responsible should be looking for alternative
employment. This was not a few quid, it was £100 millions.
Tom Shelton
> Roy Schestowitz <newsg...@schestowitz.com> espoused:
>> ____/ [H]omer on Monday 14 January 2008 01:57 : \____
>>
>>> No wonder Mark "to be honest" Thomson is stuttering so much, with such a
>>> bunch of lies as that. And in parliament ... and on camera too! His new
>>> columnist, Bill Gates, must be paying him well.
>>
>> Priceless!
>>
>> I don't know if you know this, but the BBC has become so frightened of
>> awareness that its heads started responding in one of my blogs. They are
>> really desperate to defend themselves and they do using all sorts of pointers
>> and false claims.
>>
>> But, hey! There are only 400-600 people on the BBC Web site, right Ashley? To
>> heck with Linux. Maybe he should also stop using Google...
>>
>
> They have dug a wonderfully deep hole here. There is really no excuse
> for paying out £100 millions of licence-payer cash on a skin for
> silverlight which supports, err, Microsoft Vista, not Firefox, not Mac,
> not Linux, virtually zero mobile devices, virtually zero appliances.
>
You obviously don't know what your talking about...
http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/faq.aspx
Silverlight has options on XP, Vista, and Mac OS X (PPC and Intel). It is supported in
FireFox and Safari as well as IE. Linux support is announced as future
- they are working with Novel to produce Moonlight, which is the Linux
version. It's also planned to be released for Windows 2K.
--
Tom Shelton
Moshe Goldfarb
Yea, but your story, despite being factual, doesn't fit into their (Mark,
Roy, Homer etc) agenda.
Roy Schestowitz
> Roy Schestowitz <newsg...@schestowitz.com> espoused:
>> ____/ spi...@freenet.co.uk on Monday 14 January 2008 05:17 : \____
>>
>>> Hadron <hadro...@googlemail.com> did eloquently scribble:
>>>> "[H]omer" <sp...@uce.gov> writes:
>>>
>>>>> The BBC Director General, Mark Thomson, is interrogated by the House of
>>>>> Commons Public Accounts Committee, over why the BBC wasted 20 million
>>>>> UKP on the iPlayer.
>>>>>
>>>>> http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6W1XIwSB27A (8 minutes)
>>>>>
>>>>> Partial transcript:
>>>>>
>>>>> Dr. Pugh : So at what stage will we be able to fully *download* and
>>>>> stream to a Mac or a Linux computer?
>>>
>>>> "download and stream"?
>>>
>>> Yes, download AND stream.
>>
>> Mind you, I'm 90% certain that the BBC even considered .NET for streaming
>> (Silverlight), based on the Register and the Observer (or was it another
>> publication?).
>>
>
> I'm sure they did...
I can only imagine (and did at the time) they they steered away from it because
their job was already at risk.
>>>>> Thomson : You can do that now
>>>>> Dr. Pugh : Both of them?
>>>>> Thomson : Yeah
>>>>>
>>>>> *LIE!*
>>>
>>>> You can stream now.
>>>
>>> So what?
>>
>> Will people have the money spent on iPlayer back? Why does Windows get a
>> 'fast lane' with high-quality video?
>>
>
> No, that money, that licence-fee cash, is now in a Microsoft bank
> account, and will never come back. This was a culpable waste of public
> funds, and those responsible should be looking for alternative
> employment. This was not a few quid, it was £100 millions.
--
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | Oracle: Linux adoption to accelerate
http://Schestowitz.com | GNU/Linux | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
Mem: 515500k total, 444168k used, 71332k free, 2028k buffers
http://iuron.com - next generation of search paradigms
Mark Kent
> ____/ Mark Kent on Tuesday 15 January 2008 23:12 : \____
>
>> Roy Schestowitz <newsg...@schestowitz.com> espoused:
>>> ____/ spi...@freenet.co.uk on Monday 14 January 2008 05:17 : \____
>>>
>>>> Hadron <hadro...@googlemail.com> did eloquently scribble:
>>>>> "[H]omer" <sp...@uce.gov> writes:
>>>>
>>>>>> The BBC Director General, Mark Thomson, is interrogated by the House of
>>>>>> Commons Public Accounts Committee, over why the BBC wasted 20 million
>>>>>> UKP on the iPlayer.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6W1XIwSB27A (8 minutes)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Partial transcript:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Dr. Pugh : So at what stage will we be able to fully *download* and
>>>>>> stream to a Mac or a Linux computer?
>>>>
>>>>> "download and stream"?
>>>>
>>>> Yes, download AND stream.
>>>
>>> Mind you, I'm 90% certain that the BBC even considered .NET for streaming
>>> (Silverlight), based on the Register and the Observer (or was it another
>>> publication?).
>>>
>>
>> I'm sure they did...
>
> I can only imagine (and did at the time) they they steered away from it because
> their job was already at risk.
The only thing we can do is to keep highlighting this. You can even see
from the Microsoft Trolls here how much effort MS and the BBC are
prepared to put in in order to avoid the public at large realising what
a colossal waste of their money the Silverlight/iPlayer has been.
>
>>>>>> Thomson : You can do that now
>>>>>> Dr. Pugh : Both of them?
>>>>>> Thomson : Yeah
>>>>>>
>>>>>> *LIE!*
>>>>
>>>>> You can stream now.
>>>>
>>>> So what?
>>>
>>> Will people have the money spent on iPlayer back? Why does Windows get a
>>> 'fast lane' with high-quality video?
>>>
>>
>> No, that money, that licence-fee cash, is now in a Microsoft bank
>> account, and will never come back. This was a culpable waste of public
>> funds, and those responsible should be looking for alternative