07.30.09
More New Evidence of the Incestuous Relationship Between the BBC and Microsoft
Summary: The BBC and Microsoft share common interests (not just staff) and it shows
A couple of weeks ago we showed that the BBC misrepresented Europe (as in the European Commission). It was wrong about Microsoft antitrust, and not so surprisingly because the BBC too came under European Commission pressure after it had colluded with Microsoft. The BBC continues to turn a blind eye to the inherent insecurity of Windows while illegally hijacking the platform en masse and then ‘forgetting’ to mention that it is a Windows problem.
“Contrary to common belief, the BBC is run as a business, but it is unique in the sense that it is also a national service.”We could go on forever listing the many posts here about the BBC. Contrary to common belief, the BBC is run as a business, but it is unique in the sense that it is also a national service. It does great disservice at times by misinforming the public and even former employees of the BBC complained about it, including one prominent one whose name was Eric Blair (better known as George Orwell).
Yesterday we wrote about the atrocious Yahoo-Microsoft deal, which sank Yahoo’s stock like it was a rock. Needless to say, the BBC portrays this as a good thing, whereas others are calling for regulators to intercept the deal because it is very damaging to competition and to end users. Now catch this stunning coverage of the deal. Look who the BBC is quoting (with an entire video):
Microsoft’s Ashley Highfield: “It brings scale and innovation to the search market”
Yes, that’s right. The BBC approaches Ashley Highfield, the the man who used the BBC to exclude Microsoft’s rivals. The BBC, where he worked and caused trouble for a long time, is now quoting him on behalf of Microsoft. This is insanely creepy.
This morning we also found this report from The Register.
Microsoft to launch UK ad-funded online video player
[...]
The software giant’s ad-funded MSN Video Player will be made available to Blighty broadband customers and will feature TV programmes from BBC Worldwide and All3Media.
[...]
Ex-BBC technology chief Ashley Highfield, who quit Project Kangaroo for Microsoft taking on the role of MD and veep of consumer and online in November 2008, told the Guardian that MS had a “fair crack of the whip” with attracting viewers to the service.
Yes, that’s Highfield again. How predictable. It is the man who said (wearing a BBC hat): “We have 17.1 million users of bbc.co.uk in the UK and, as far as our server logs can make out, 5 per cent of those [use Macs] and around 400 to 600 are Linux users.”
“The BBC hardly ever covers GNU/Linux; when it does, it is very derogatory.”That was a lie.
But wait, that’s not all.
On the BBC, Peter Day’s new Red Hat interview was very hostile. He gave away his hatred of collaboration, Free software, Wikipedia, people who develop code, and the young(er) generation. It is almost as though the purpose of the interview was to grill, to daemonise, and to be rude. Listen to it for a more personal judgment. It gets crass towards the end. This was debated some more in the IRC channel (later in the day) and more historical context in needed for newcomers to understand the convictions of the BBC, which got filled with former Microsoft staff recently. The BBC hardly ever covers GNU/Linux; when it does, it is very derogatory.
The BBC is usually glorifying Microsoft (even Windows Vista, which is undeniably a failure) and glamourising intellectual monopolies while consistently calling dissenters “pirates”. Here is a new BBC article about patents, which totally lacks proper criticism.
The voicemail-to-text service Spinvox has applied for two patents which describe the service as being operated by humans, the BBC has learned.
Spinvox has previously claimed that state-of-the-art speech recognition technology is the basis of its service.
However, its patent applications claim the approach is accurate precisely because it employs human operators.
The BBC needs to advance onto the new age; as it stands, the BBC remains a promoter of DRM, monopolies on knowledge, Windows Vista, Microsoft, the MPAA, and the RIAA. Being a defender of status quo where elite interests are always further advanced is nothing to take pride in. Maybe Auntie Beeb should make a bid for Bill O’Reilly sooner rather than later. █
Eric Blair’s memo of resignation from the BBC
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