Where will we all be in 50 years after you've tied all BBC internet views to microsoft ?
The BBC would not be institution it is now. Imagine if when the BBC started they said you could only buy one make of TV. You need to be more forward thinking and start to question the issue of tying a service to a particular manufacturer. Your talk of "moving the debate forward" is typical of someone who doesn't want to debate the initial issue - basically you're saying "I'm right - now shut up". If you can not treat viewer equally then you have to question whether you should be entering certain arenas.
If I am being treated unequally then give me a rebate or charge the Windows user more. You take my money on an equal basis as a Windows person. The fact that Linux is little used is hardly relevant - you are not a comercial company. I wonder if the Beeb views their needs 'in context with the vast majority of users' or if it has a duty to meet the needs of all? I suspect many users are at least one of non-white deaf or hard of hearing blind or visually impaired. I wonder if BBC news reporters will challenge this discrepancy as much as they did the recent government slip up (for want of a better term) on migrations numbers? "over 30 thousand Linux users is a not insubstantial number, but we do have to keep this in context with the vast majority of users who use either Windows or Macs to access bbc.co.uk" At 05:01 PM on, Graham Gillions wrote:.I take it they don't offer basic statistics courses at the BBC. Just out of interest, what is the method that gave the 600 users figure? It seems rather inaccurate. We'll try and get a more accurate picture: over 30,000 Linux users is a not insubstantial number, but we do have to keep this in context with the vast majority of users who use either Windows or Macs to access bbc.co.uk.Īshley Highfield is Director, BBC Future Media and Technology. The BBC uses a range of systems to calculate user levels and the reporting system used to provide the numbers I quoted gave the lowest number (this is the system we use the most widely, and I've asked for a thorough check to see whether it is correctly picking up all Linux users).Īlternative analysis that we have run off which performs the measurement in different ways suggests that the potential number of Linux users could range from 0.3% to 0.8% (which, from a total UK bbc.co.uk userbase of 12.2m weekly users could imply a userbase between 36,600 and 97,600. I have received and seen on the net a lot of comment on this point of the number of Linux users using bbc.co.uk, so I have had a good look into the validity of the figures I'd been given.