[Ecommerce] Jeff Kaplan: BBC Handcuffs Viewers to Microsoft

[Manon Ress]

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[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
Monday, February 05, 2007
BBC Handcuffs Viewers to Microsoft
http://jakaplan.blogspot.com/

I love the BBC -- its news coverage, its TV shows, its website, its
independence even in the face of pressure by its public paymasters.
When it comes to technology, however, the BBC seems willing to trade
that famous independence for a set of handcuffs.

Access to BBC on-demand TV services will be unavailable to consumers
who do not have an up-to-date version of Microsoft Windows. It
matters not what you think of Microsoft; forcing consumers to choose
any single vendor, system or computer is unnecessary, wasteful and
unfair.

Just ask the victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 who were unable to
register online for disaster relief on the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) website. Online registration for disaster
help required Internet Explorer initially.

The truth is: lock-in is a bad idea.

You can tell the BBC what you think about its plans on its website here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/consult/open-consultations/
ondemand_services.html

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Manon Anne Ress
manon.ress@keionline.org,
www.cptech.org

Consumer Project on Technology
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