...is the DRM. Just look at the iPlayer. There's a few "third party" apps (even ones the BBC supported and promoted!) that respected the rules about how the content could be streamed/stored and they cannot be used any more because of the RTMP bullshit in Flash.

This would be easy to get around, but illegal due to the DMCA bullshit (and similar bullshit laws in Europe).

This is, basically, caused by Flash IMHO (well, more correctly, Adobe and the BBCtards). And it's all bullshit.

It's the same crap that has foisted DVD regions on use, allowed Sony-BMG to think it was "OK" to install a root-kit and so on.

A second problem with Flash is that it is not truly cross-platform. Flash on Linux sucks ass. Really. I will agree that Linux is a (very) niche market, but if you are lording yourself about as a "standard" you'd better bloody well work across ALL platforms (and that also includes simialr performance across ALL browsers).

This neatly segways into the third problem with Flash. Obviously Adobe can't do all the above, they are a bottleneck. Flash is not open, no one else can help them. There are projects that try to ape Flash (e.g. Gnash) and they have one hell of a time. If Flash was open, the individual OS/browser teams could make sure it works correctly on their platform. No bottleneck.

This would also solve problems one and two at a stroke and the world would be a happy place.

Maybe.

Once you need an ID card for insurance, bank account, NHS, benefits, and police random stop (where not having an ID card is taken as 'suspicious') there will be a stampede of applications.

The ID cards are coming.

You will obey the machine.

Whilst the outlawing of Word amused me greatly, all this patent faff in the USA is really beyond a joke. There should be some clause whereby if a firm is not actively using a patent (i.e. in the R&D/manufacture of mobile phones in this case) then the patent expires within a few years.

I realise there are problems with the above, but it would stop all these parasitic lawyers hoovering up patents and suing every Tom, Dick and Harriet.

There's no need to advertise the ID card as it will be compulsory.

Either have an ID card, or foget about having a job, bank account, health care, insurance, driving license or being free to walk down the street (no ID card will be 'suspicious').

Thus advertising the ID card would be like advertising breathing.

Pointless.

It is more feature rich and less locked down that the Apple iFad at the hardware level (USB etc).

It can run a full, multi-tasking OS.

I know which one I would seriously consider, and it wouldn't be the iFad.

H.264 is not "open source" in any meaningful way. It is patent encumbered and you cannot implement it without paying fat fees. Hence why MOziall has (rightly) dug its heels in over the use of this format.

As for the BBC...fix this stupid mistake NOW. (Yes, I have complained)

It is (almost) impossible to buy a PC with Windows on it.

So when I buy an HP (or Acer or...) and reclaim the MS Tax for Win7, will that still get counted as a sale?

Assuming I can still reclaim the MS Tax that is.

...I have no issue with infected PCs being blocked by the ISP (after their own scanning, or someone alerting them) and the owner being made to cover all costs incurred (including clean-up - they can take it to a certified engineer if needs be). People need to wise-up to their on-line responsibilities.

But for MS to propose such measures is a bit beyond the pale. If their OS was not SO EASY to infect and subvert, we would not have these issues. *nixes (and I include OS X) are not immune, but they are a shit-load harder to subvert with the tricks that work on Windows. They are also a heterogeneous and compatible environment, so it would be extremely hard for one piece of malware to infect more than a subset of machines.

Often it is not the OS that is actually infected, but some application (e.g. MS Office) that is bent to the will of the hacker. If you are lucky, MS will update this on a random Tuesday. But what if it was a non-MS app? You've got little help unless you actively seek our the patch/new version.

The update mechanism on any modern Linux distro (I don't know about OS X, sorry) is vastly superior than the one on Windows; it takes care not only of the OS and ancillary systems, but also all applications that have been installed via the certified repositories (or whatever your particular brand on Linux happens to call them). No need to go looking, your system will check for updates once a day (or whatever you set it to).

One side effect is that you may get a batch of updates every day. This is a "Good Thing"(tm) as you get the fix as soon as it is ready and don't have to wait for that special Tuesday. Reboots are rare due to how *nix deals with files and it is all over in a few mouse clicks (or a few terminal commands if you prefer). And yes, you can modify how all this works for the corporate environment).

If the world moved to Linux (or OS X, BSD, Haiku...) tomorrow, viruses, rootkits, trojans etc would not vanish, but they would become much, much harder to forge given the reasons above. The only losers would be Symantec et al.

So, by all means, block infected machines, but ask yourself why such measures should be necessary. If the internet is the "information super highway", then Windows PCs are unfit for the road and fail their MOT (or TUV or...)

This is a book. Learn how to read them. Learn how to maintain a stream of thought for longer than 30 seconds. Learn how to use an index and bibliography.

This is a pencil and paper. Learn how to do basic arithmetic, algebra etc. No, really; it's important. You'll thank me when your bank screws up.

That is the outside world. Go make some actual friends and learn some actual social skills. Get some exercise, lower your risk of heart disease and an early death.

Kids DO NOT need laptops. They need to know how to drive a computer, sure. But there are many more way, way, WAY more important skills than pressing buttons.

Also, last time I checked, my pencil and paper has a better battery life than any laptop. They were cheaper too.

No shills? Come on MS fanbois! Yer letting the side down! :o)

...that the consultation done (link is in the story) with as much anti-proprietary comments as I could must.

The complaint is next.

I've done my bit, have you?

Who gives a flying toss? You wouldn't enter an elephant into the Grand National, so why the hell would you want Windows on your phone?

We'll see about that I guess. I'll get mine off in the next day or so.

The "content providers" did not expect people to watch TV programs on their TV? Just how monumentally stupid are these "content providers"? A TV is just a display screen for video content, whatever the delivery mechanism (aerial, satellite, VHS, DVD, Blu-Ray, cable or internet). They are all the same once the stream is flowing in the home. So OF COURSE folks watch on their TV! FFS!

As for deep linking, what the HELL does that have to do with this? I thought they filtered based on IP? So the number of "nawty" programs able to purloin content should be vanishingly small. Deep link or no, if you have your security set-up properly (and as we were lead to believe) then requests from unatned IPs will simply not get through or get redirected (a la AdultSwim).

We shall, of course, ignore the basic flaw in all of this; which is that trying to regionally restrict content in a network that is by design GLOBAL is like trying to empty a reservoir with a sieve. It's a lot of work, some folks will get rich providing a service to do it, but in the end it is utterly futile.

Hence all the barriers the governments are now trying to place on the net. A populace divided is a populace monetised and controlled. The net can probably withstand a nuclear strike, but it is powerless again the RIAA and their lawyers.

...was a 3rd Dan in Karate (Shotokan I think). Quite frankly he scared the shit out of me (and most other pupils).

Probably explains why we were rather good at maths though!

Way to go Corduroy-ka!

Rockin' out like it's 1970, yeah?

They'd bloody well nt have tried to patent it....

...as such. The money has to come from somewhere.

And it would be nice to think that this 50P will evaporate in a year or two once the roll-out is complete.

What I do mind is the fact that this 50p will grow in size and become permanent. Thus we will all end up paying £15 a month (or whatever) for a "internet fund license" which will actually go to pay for first class train tickets etc and not be used for what it was originally intended.