I was expecting the BBC’s new iPlayer to have launched by the time I returned from my hols, thus allowing me to catch up on Heroes. Instead, it would appear they have little more than a beta version (how long has this thing been in development? Certainly long enough to produce an omega version!), which the main BBC website doesn’t link to, but Google does, and that when I register to subscribe to, it doesn’t send me a confirmation email. And that’s ignoring the fact that it doesn’t run on Macs, or even Windows Vista.
I find it truly extraordinary that the BBC can’t produce a service that Channel 4 and even ITV have been doing for ages now. No doubt the predictable excuse will be “we didn’t get a high enough license fee in the charter negotiations” – as per. Doesn’t all this rather suggest that the license fee is holding the BBC back?
UPDATE: As Ryan predicted below, I’ve now had a confirmation email from the BBC. When I next have access to a PC, I’ll have a look.
Whilst the BBC are far from the only company to have issues with Vista, speaking as someone who has a laptop that only has Vista on it, it is a frustration that the programme was released in a state which is not Vista compatible.
I have to say I’m more concerned about the Mac incompatibility than the Vista issue personally (vested interest), but I really can’t see why it is so difficult for them to produce a compatible version. Surely they have the resources at their disposal?
You should get a email from them soon, mine took some 24 hours. Also there’s no Heroes, NBC won’t let them.
See Richard Allan’s blog for getting it to “work” on a Mac, and google to get it to work on Vista.
It’s not bad, and is better than the earlier betas, just missing the option to schedual shows.
I’m probably missing something regarding software development terminology, but how can there be ‘previous’ betas? I thought that, by definition, the beta release was the pre-release version?
James, I saw the first episode and it’s rubbish. You’re not missing anything.