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Leader: Time for a ceasefire in iPlayer row
BBC has built bridges with the open source community

By silicon.com

Published: Tuesday 31 July 2007

There has been a lot of criticism levelled at the BBC for its on-demand TV service - iPlayer - since it was unveiled back in June.

The Beeb's attempt at an on-demand, online TV service has been slammed for its lack of compatibility with non-Windows technology and for the varying performance of the beta version currently available for public testing.

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For a beta version of any technology to be perfect from the off is a bit optimistic - surely the whole point of a beta is to iron out any glitches before moving to a wider release.

And as for compatibility, while the question about whether the iPlayer can become cross-platform is worth asking - since it has so far been developed just using Microsoft technology - it is clear the Corporation's independent governing body, the BBC Trust, is committed to making a cross-platform iPlayer and will make sure this happens.

For example, the BBC has met with the Open Source Consortium to discuss working with developers to make the iPlayer available on other platforms.

In addition, as one silicon.com reader pointed out, Channel 4's 4OD TV service is also only available for XP and Vista, so the BBC isn't the only organisation non-Windows users might like to moan at.

It seems people enjoy criticising the BBC - perhaps because of its public funding. But so far it appears that in this case it is working hard to make sure everyone can use the iPlayer regardless of their technology choices.

The iPlayer should be a useful addition to the services offered by the BBC and, so far, it seems the Corporation has managed the development well. But we wait for Linux and Mac versions, due later this year. And no doubt the open source community will be watching too, to make sure Auntie makes good on its promise.