[Fsfe-uk] Educating Ashley: was it wasted time?

[MJ Ray]

After "BBC's DRM Iplayer windows only" 
http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.org.fsf.uk/4822
some of you may have spent time trying to educate the BBC digital
divison and its leader Ashley Highfield.  Jono Bacon spent some time
with him, as described at
http://www.jonobacon.org/2008/06/20/ashley-highfield-reviews-ubuntu/

Now, in case you hadn't heard, Ashley Highfield is back at Microsoft,
while his division's embarrassing sets of expenses and budget overruns
still swirl around the BBC.  Unfortunately, he's still being listened
to by people in the media, but is again unconvinced by the need for
freedom and sharing.

  "There is a growing consensus something can be done. We have to
  protect IP for the health of our economy. We need implementable
  anti-piracy measures. We can do a lot more [than the Digital Britain
  report proposes] if there is a will to do it."
  -- 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/aug/17/microsoft-ashley-highfield-interview

Was it a waste of time convincing him at the BBC about free software
and Ubuntu?  Or does the message live on inside the BBC?  What's the
current status of get_iplayer support from the BBC?  Tolerated, hated
or something else?  What should we learn from this?

More generally, the push for free and open source software is fast
becoming about more than FOSS for the sake of freedom of computing.
It's becoming a struggle between public and private benefit in access
to everything from Department for the Environment presentations to BBC
and ITV shows.  Where is this debate happening next?

Regards,
-- 
MJ Ray (slef)  LMS developer and webmaster at     | software
www.software.coop http://mjr.towers.org.uk        |  .... co
IMO only: see http://mjr.towers.org.uk/email.html |  .... op