BBC 'would not kill off the internet even if it could'

"I was a geek before geek was cool," declared the BBC's newly installed digital, future media, and technology director at yesterday's W3C event in Oxford. The Nominet-hosted shindig marked the launch of the World Wide Web Consortium UK and Ireland office and gave the Beeb's Ralph Rivera a platform to wax lyrical about his …

[Annihilator]

Quick question

When did geek become cool? Did I miss a memo?

[vic 4]

never mind that

When did using this twitter thing become geeky

[Blofeld's Cat]

Did I miss a memo?

No - it was an email.

Did you not subscribe to the list?

[Charlie Clark]

About 1999

When we all discovered there was a usable search engine, BeDope ran a lovely story with an IMac poster graffitied with "Geek is Chic". Can't find in a hurry in the archive but it should still be there.

http://www.bedope.com/archive/

I, for one, welcome our expense-account laden, segway-driving overlord twats*.

*It's the OED plural for a person who tweets, as opposed to a song bird. Yes, I just made that up but don't you wish it were true?

[Peter Gathercole]

You were behind the times

I was using AltaVista almost from it's launch in 1995.

[lawndart]

As for me...

I also would not kill off the internet, even if I could.

Just for the record

[Lamont Cranston]

His iPad wouldn't connect with the big screen?

It's obviously the worst consumer product, ever. He should get a <insert alternative product of choice>, instead.

[Anonymous Coward]

Functionality

Use a laptop if you want something reliable, and turn up 15 minutes early so you can test it. If you can't connect to the projector wirelessly then plug in a monitor cable or just copy it across to the in house machine with a thumb drive.

Turning up with a iPad and expecting it to work with no prior preparation is just being a bad speaker.

Poncing around with your iPad while you do your talk: +4

Being unable to connect because you brought the wrong piece of kit: -5000

[mr0c]

Should have called IT support

Where's Stephen Fry when you need him ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yada yada

Of course the Beeb wouldn't kill the net. They would however make you buy a licence....tax usage and censor all the content.

But apart from that they wouldn't change anything.....much.

BBC? Time to take 'old yeller' out the back and introduce him to Mr Smith and Mr Wesson.

[georgeclooneylookalike]

@Should have called IT support

Should have gone to PC world, where is Gary Glitter when you need him?

[Anomalous Cowturd]

where is Gary Glitter when you need him?

Unfortunately, living somewhere near Folkestone, coz I saw him crossing the road last week...

Can't we send him to Rockall?

[Anonymous Coward]

see also ...

Ref:

Jan 24 2011: "The BBC Trust has approved proposals to cut the Beeb's sprawling online empire, with half of its 400 "top-level domains" to close, and the loss of 360 jobs"

"http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/01/24/bbc_online_purge/

July 2010: "The BBC's governing body has essentially approved a 25 percent cut in the broadcaster's online budget"

http://www.cio.co.uk/news/3229329/bbc-cuts-the-websites-it-offers/

April 2008: "James Murdoch, the chief executive of News Corporation in Europe and Asia, has attacked the BBC for squashing competition in the broadband TV market with its costly iPlayer service"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/apr/25/digitalmedia.television

April 2008: "Ashley Highfield, the BBC's chief technology executive, is to quit the corporation"

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/04/14/highfield_quits_bbc/

Aug 2007: "the FSF says the appointment of Erik Huggers, the former director of Microsoft's Windows digital media division, as the BBC's controller of the future media and technology group in May this year, is evidence of Redmond-driven corruption of the BBC's core values"

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/02/fsf_bbc_protest/

[Anonymous Coward]

James Murdoch?

We're being lectured about competition by someone who only got his job because of who his father is? I don't think we invited him to come here in the first place and, last I heard, greed had not been redefined as a 'human right'.

[Blofeld's Cat]

Oh dear...

"It will be to digital what the Queen's Coronation was to analogue".

So it will be hacked together at the last minute from kit dragged in from everywhere, and only kept running by a combination of luck and ingenious boffins.

I believe the original coronation service was: "Right then, I've killed the old king so I'm your king now. Any of you lot want to argue with this two-headed battleaxe?"

[Pete 2]

Reassuring to know

I'm sure we'll all sleep soundly in our meetings knowing that the Beeb wouldn't kill the internet. However, whether anyone who would (if they knew how to use their technology) quote from twitter has any credibility at all, makes me wonder about the soundness of this guy's judgement.

[Atonnis]

Ugh, strikes me as a tosser.

'"Well let's go a cappella then," he said, before explaining that he had hoped to illustrate his talk with a series of tweets garnered from Twitter.'

....so he's not a geek then...just another twatter. Using twitter as a source for presentation will immediately put you in the would-love-to-be-chic-geek bracket.

[cnapan]

The bigger the pay, the bigger the bull...

Seems to be case with people leading companies, politicians, chief executives of hospitals etc....

My advice: Cap top pay to 3 x minimum wage paid by the company. Maybe then we wouldn't have to see people spouting so much crap, and instead just get on with running the show.

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe the Beeb won't change it......much..

But I'll lay good money they'll find some innovative way to ruin it for us norms.