BBC Listens to Open Source community; Makes software compatible with Linux

[zekrahminator]

The BBC is releasing a digital content player, called "iPlayer". However, the Open Source community got very upset when they found out iPlayer was only compatible with Windows XP. And so, after asking the BBC to remedy this (and threatening to go to the European Commission), the BBC has made the iPlayer compatible with multiple operating systems. All the owner of the operating system has to do is pay the BBC for a license, and the player will be made compatible with the operating system.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Atech]

What the hell, GNU is non-profit

Edit: Ohhh they mean the user.
Edit 2: Or do they ...

 

[Jimmy 2004]

Every household in the UK needs to pay a yearly subscription to the BBC if they have a TV (I think it's somewhere around £130 but I'm not sure) so I think that's the license he's referring to.

I'm looking forward to using iPlayer, should be cool to be able to watch all my TV later for free - unlike 4OD.

 

[Casheti]

STOP WITH THE FREAKIN "i" STUFF!!

And yea the BBC are fuggin' hoes.. making us pay TV licenses, screw them.

 

[Jimmy 2004]

And yea the BBC are fuggin' hoes.. making us pay TV licenses, COCKSUCKERS.

I'd rather pay the BBC TV license and get ad-free TV than pay more for Sky and get ads. It's a joke having to pay for that, which is why I don't.

 

[Casheti]

I Sky tbh... shame I only have the sh177y free package with the poo channels. They make you PAY for channels you can get on freeview

 

[Benpi]

STOP WITH THE FREAKIN "i" STUFF!!

It's good marketing. I bet there are loads of retards who think "i" is a company, and anything with "i" in front of it is hip with the pop culture.

 

[WarEagleAU]

well blame apple for all the "i" stuff. I didnt know BBC was a software company.

 

[Jimmy 2004]

I didnt know BBC was a software company.

It isn't. This software is simply so people can download BBC TV programmes online after they have been aired on TV.

 

[Casheti]

It isn't. This software is simply so people can download BBC TV programmes online after they have been aired on TV.

Two Pints FTW

 

[mdm-adph]

Every household in the UK needs to pay a yearly subscription to the BBC if they have a TV (I think it's somewhere around £130 but I'm not sure) so I think that's the license he's referring to.

I'm looking forward to using iPlayer, should be cool to be able to watch all my TV later for free - unlike 4OD.

Is it true about the little government vans that drive around, scanning people's houses, checking to see if you're watching the air bands of TV without paying the BBC for it?

 

[Casheti]

LOL!!! I hope you aren't being serious...

They take your TV license details every time you buy a piece of TV equipment e.g. Freeview, Satellite, a new TV, and stuff... and they check the address and name you give them against a database of people who hold TV licenses, and if you're not on there they'll send you a letter to get one or they'll pwn you up the rear.

 

[Jimmy 2004]

Is it true about the little government vans that drive around, scanning people's houses, checking to see if you're watching the air bands of TV without paying the BBC for it?

I doubt it. TVs don't emit any radio waves, so it would be impossible to detect - just scarmongering IMO.

What they actually do is send rude letters to every address that doesn't have a TV license claiming that they know they have a TV and will take action if they don't pay. My brother gets them all the time even though he has no TV. The only way they can know you're watching TV is to send someone into your house, and they'd need to get the police to do that with a warrant if it's without your permission, so unless they have really strong suspicions they'd never bother.

 

[Ripper3]

They scare monger mostly, the government would likely lose more money by sending vans around to check, plus, there's no way currently for them to pinpoint exactly what house is getting the TV signal, there'd be too many around in urban areas. They just check details against a database,a nd work from there. Whoever hasn't got a TV licence gets hastled until they pay for a TV licence, whether or not they own a TV, or a TV receiver. They tend to pick out the elderly and students, from what I've heard. Although it could all be bs.
But I would find it funny to see someone from the BBC come to my door trying to force me into paying them tv licencing, when I'm a student living in my own house. I'm not a guy that likes being threatened into paying for something I don't want/need. Being tall also helps.

 

[Grings]

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/information/tvdetectorvans.jsp

they can detect that youre watching tv, they can detect that youre aerial is active

i myself dont have a tv licence, the aerial on my home is hanging off the chimney and dosent get a signal, my landlord wont pay for it to be replaced, and im certainly not going to pay for it to be done, if theres something i really want to watch i get it on my parents sky+ and move it to my ext usb drive (hacked sky+ boxes ftw!)

 

[Jimmy 2004]

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/information/tvdetectorvans.jsp

they can detect that youre watching tv, they can detect that youre aerial is active

I think that's a load of nonsense myself. TV aerials do not emit any radio waves so that would be impossible to detect, nor do they in any way manipulate the radio waves in the air... so I'm quite confident they can't be detected. My household has a TV licence, so I'm not trying to evade it, but I don't genuinely believe that they believe that they can detect anything.