The news
The BBC has revealed that it is to work closely with Microsoft on technology that will enable the corporation to better deliver programming and archived material over the internet.
An agreement - described as a non-exclusive memorandum of understanding - was signed this week at Microsoft's HQ in Seattle when the BBC's director-general Mark Thompson and its director of new media and technology Ashley Highfield met Microsoft chairman Bill Gates.
Areas of potential investigation and collaboration are said to include search and navigation, distribution and content-enablement.
The corporation has long been trying to lessen its reliance on RealNetworks technology - though you might not know it if judging by its internet radio transmissions. It's not clear, however, whether this latest announcement is a signal that this change is gaining pace.
Indeed, the BBC's own news story points out that on their current north American tour, the BBC top bods are also speaking to other companies, including RealNetworks, IBM and the makers of the virtual world Second Life (Linden Labs).
And, in its heart of hearts (and wallet of wallets?), the BBC would much prefer to move away from all proprietary systems and use open standards that are free or inexpensive, such as the wavelet-based Dirac Codec system that it devised itself and continues to shepherd through open-source development.
Check out the BBC's press release on page two, then share your thoughts with us in this thread in the HEXUS.lifestyle.news forum.
HEXUS.links
HEXUS.community :: discussion thread about this articleDVdoctor.headline :: Home-grown open-source video Codec to save BBC millions and make possible 'universal access'
External.links
Dirac - home pageBBC News - BBC and Microsoft sign agreement
BBC - home page
BBC - OpenSource - Dirac
Microsoft - home page
