Posts by matt 6 publicly visible posts • joined 14 Aug 2007
This is old news, the iPlayer spec has had interoperability at the top of the list since day 1. Surely the editorial would be more objective if some mention was made about the main reasons WHY it is XP and media player only.
Producers (a lot of whom are not the bbc) want to protect their assets, and the only way they are comfortable with (and its not necessarily the right way) is by using WMP its propietary is implemented on the majority (a large majority) of home computers and provides a mechanism that allows them to protect their assets. It's such a simple fact but such a critically important one. yes i know there are ways of breaking DRM but new versions and mandatory upgrades follow soon after and most mortals wouldnt have a clue where to start with the cracks. the BBC are a broadcaster not always the producer why is this such a simple but MASSIVE fact that everyone seems to miss...
in my moments imagining i'm some 1337 H4x0R i have always wanted to put a theory to the test.
Given the plethora of sites people log into these days i'm pretty sure most people dont have a separate password for each and every "secure" site they visit, in fact my theory is based around the fact that the more naive a user is, the fewer passwords they use.
So, my imagined hack is quite simple really, set up a site that requires a user to register with an email and password and i'd bet that the very same password they use to register will work against the email account in a lot of cases, probably pretty obvious but surely a very simple way to lift a "percentage" of people's passwords.
the first two comments from Dave Murray and Daniel Bennet are just typical of people who read Microsoft, DRM and media player and see that as the basis for criticising the product itself rather than looking at the bigger picture. Im sure both participate in any thread or discussion that involves criticising M$. I Just wish people would think for themselves.... "from what i've read" is never a great way to enforce your position Dave, seriously.
There are some simple facts that the 2 D's (from this point forwards) seem to ignore when day dreaming about their Open Source paradise where everything is free and sandals are always "in". unfortunately this is the real world. people die, KFC is bad for you and some companies make money out of proprietary software (its ok you can come out from behind your bedroom fitted server rack now and crank the air con units down a notch, i promise not to mention that subject again).
There are non-functional limitations beyond the control of most broadcasters that have a huge impact on solution architecture for most commercial VOD products e.g. 4oD, ITV on demand, iPlayer; the producers of the content are fiercely protective of their output, and rightly so.
This leaves the broadcasters at the mercy of production demands for protecting their assets. Open source?, absolutely no way, standards for this kind of security are proprietary and for obvious reasons because people want to know that if they are securing their assets that the technology cant be downloaded from CVS any day of the week and hacked about with by spotty /. types (yes this is naive approach but we are talking about people with little interest in the nitty gritty of technology, they want someone commercial they can pin the law suit on when the product breaks)
This leaves the broadcasters with little choice when it comes to a pervasive format that can be secured in a proprietary manner. Most people use Windows and Microsoft DRM is proprietary and microsoft are a commercial organisation with pots of cash.... there, what a shock eh?, as for the delivery platform there are reasons for Kontiki as well which is used on most VoD platforms, mainly around certifications from across the water (as far as i know).
I'm sure lots of people out there love Joost and youtube but apart from sitting down to watch the odd happy slapping vid and semi-interesting snippet from joost the one thing they will never have is the volume and quality of content because the broadcasters still have huge power due to the good old television set.
Im pretty sure that the platform's will evolve so that sometime in the near future Mac users can do three things with their shiny fashion accessories (on top of composing videos and touching up their pictures they may be able to watch VoD ! they may even brand it a tri-Mac) but i wish people would be a bit more objective when jerking their knees at stories like this. There are very valid (if not good) reasons that media player is being used along with DRM, and Dave, its not bittorrent mate, thats where you go if you like Jazz videos ;)
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