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Software GNU is Not Unix

CBC Opens ZeD.cbc.ca Code 334

Posted by michael from the free-to-air dept.
ivar writes "The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has open sourced (Apache License 2.0) the code used to build ZeD.cbc.ca. The corresponding TV show (typically consisting of content uploaded by the community) aired the announcement last night (Jan 6_, along with the Canadian broadcast premiere of Revolution OS. It's always heartening to see cool things come from a state run corporation..."
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CBC Opens ZeD.cbc.ca Code More

CBC Opens ZeD.cbc.ca Code

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  • CBC -- BBC (Score:5, Informative)

    by mj ( 123061 ) * on Friday January 07, 2005 @08:56AM (#11286793)
    CBC has some really great stuff, it's sad more people don't pay attention...

    Since moving to Britian, I've seen how far something like the CBC could go: The BBC.

    The BBC kicks serious ass. Wide range of great programming. Really insightful stuff...

    http://www.bbc.co.uk

    And it's not fear mongering like the American news channels. (and yes, we got plenty of them in Canada...)

    • Re:CBC -- BBC (Score:3, Insightful)

      by NardofDoom ( 821951 )
      BBC News is so great my parents watch it instead of American news programs. And, unlike American sitcoms, I actually laugh at Britcoms they show on PBS.

    • Re:CBC -- BBC (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Please, don't bring up the BBC, then someone will bring up the fact that everone HAS to buy a TV license if they have a TV, whether they watch the BBC or not.

      Then someone with a complete lack of understanding of the way the BBC works, will call it a puppet of the government.

      Then finally someone will pour scorn on the actual quality of the programming in comparison to their country.

      And finally it'll all just get messy.

      • CBC-BBC parallels (Score:5, Informative)

        by WebCowboy ( 196209 ) on Friday January 07, 2005 @10:15AM (#11287369)
        Please, don't bring up the BBC, then someone will bring up the fact that everone HAS to buy a TV license if they have a TV

        Interestingly enough that is almost the same way CBC receives much of its funding. In Canada, if you want wo have *cable or legal satellite* television you MUST pay a fee to CBC. This fee is hidden in your cable or satellite bill. In return, we get the CBC--by law, all cable and satellite providers in Canada must provide CBC Newsworld, and one channel each of the CBC main network and Radio-Canada (French CBC). I *AM* glad that we don't have that silly license scheme here though.

        Then someone with a complete lack of understanding of the way the BBC works, will call it a puppet of the government.

        Cant speak for the BBC, but the CBC seems fairly independent of government, and is quite regularly on its case about corruption, etc (they also get a good skewering on "This Hour has 22 Minutes"). I DO have to say that they are far from neutral, and arguably very out-of-touch with Canadian's overall viewpoint editorially. Canada is markedly to the left of the US, but not outright socialist as often the CBC's editorial stance seems to be. Compared to th BBC programming I've seen I'd say the BBC is not nearly as ideologicallly bent as the CBC. And while they are not a puppet of the government, during election time they cover the Liberal and NDP (socialist) party much more favourably than others (Conservative, Greens, separatists, fringe parties).

        As far as government puppets go, in Canada they are private media companies--Bell GlobeMedia is owned by a staunchly Liberal family with close ties to high-powered politicians. The "old and stale" Globe and Mail editorials are a good example of mutual backscratching.

        Then finally someone will pour scorn on the actual quality of the programming

        Much of what the CBC does is crap, and I'm sure the same is true of the BBC too, but it seems (at least here across the pond) we get to see the best of what the BBC has to offer, and even when production values are sometimes low, it is very good entertainment, which is often emulated here (hits like "All in the Family" are Americanised British imports). The CBC has carried such shows before too (Degrassi Junior High had a following around he world, Beachcombers was a bit hokey but still a perennial favourite, The Nature of Things is world-renowned and very long-running). However, finding the treasure amongst the crap that sometimes gets put front-and-centre is sometimes frustrating.

        The CBC *is* too overlooked, and there is quality stuff on there, but it has incompetent management. Their biggest hits never seem to air on the same day and time from week to week. They are too often pre-empted for special presentations or sports events or whatever reason they can come up with to move things around. Furthermore they have no real direction. On one hand they try to meet some kind of official mandate and be like the BBC or PBS, and on the other hand they are driven to fill air time with American movie features and revenue-generating commercials and Canadian-produced content that emulate American formulae.

        There has to be a corporate-wide shake-up at CBC to allow for more innovation. They can't be both the BBC and ABC. Furhtermore, private networks are starting to make some really good, truly Canadian programming that beats what the CBC has come up with for awhile (Check out Corner Gas...also CTV has picked up the latest sequel to the original Degrassi shows at CBC's expense).

        I'm not totally against the CBC--as I said they have some good programming and it's nice to see initiatives like the open source one by ZED. However, if taxpayer money is going to fund it, the CBC should offer something different than "just another network" (which they too often try to be). Private enterprise can give me the same old stuff. The CBC will know they are successful when they air something a bit off the wall that becomes enough of a hit t
        • I quite agree with your assessment. I'm waiting for them to move "Monday Report" to Thursday.

          Their handling of Don Cherry is pathetic. It's perfectly all right to make provocative statements on the CBC, so long as it comes from the left.

          And their centralization of production some years ago was a massive mistake. The last thing Canadians needed was a more Toronto-centric viewpoint. Better if they had cut costs by removing one or two layers of management.

    • Exactly what does BBC have that CBC doesn't?

      Really, both have great documentaries, good world and local news and nice radio stations. BBC has/had The Office, but CBC has/had Hockey Night in Canada.

      • BBC has, CBC doesn't -- no commercials (Score:5, Insightful)

        by westcourt_monk ( 516239 ) on Friday January 07, 2005 @09:57AM (#11287242) Homepage Journal
        BBC has money from TV licence fee.. CBC has scraps from the CDN government. BBC programs change it up regularly and run on odd seasons that usually consist of many mini-series like Auf Weidersen (totally awsome). BBC has multiple channels that are available to everyone since well before cable and satellite and no commercials unless they are self promotion. CBC has crap. Nevermind BBC Radio.. Radio 1 defines pop culture in the UK, or so it seems.

        You can enjoy anything with no commercials in it... I live with a Brit.. she can't stand North American tv commercials...and to be honest I constantly wonder why we pay so much for cable that consists of 60% or more commercials.

      • Yeah, but the British accent sounds distinguished. The Canadian accent just sounds funny.
      • "Exactly what does BBC have that CBC doesn't?"

        Money. And a better sense of humor. And speghetti trees.

        • Re:CBC -- BBC (Score:3, Interesting)

          by felis_panthera ( 160944 )
          it doesn't have a 'better' sense of humour... it has a british sense of humour... the CBC has a Canadian sense of humour which is usually an even split between making fun of ourselves and making fun of everyone else... the yankee sense of humor involves making fun of (primarily) everyone else and the british sense of humour almost exclusively make fun of themselves...

    • Re:CBC -- BBC (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 07, 2005 @09:46AM (#11287149)
      To the person who says the CBC is biased towards the left. It's called balanced reporting. Some of the only truly balanced reporting in Canada. The simple fact of the matter is that most people are left in Canada. It's just that the right yells a lot more.

      Please give a solid example of CBC being biased towards the left. And looking for a TV show or radio piece, not just the normal "the cbc is left"

      Geez, look at Don Cherry. He's about as left wing as Bush. And he's still on, even though lots of people calling for him to be removed from the CBC. Granted he has lots of supporters, like myself, but if CBC was really that biased towards the left he would have been gone a lot time ago.

      • Re:CBC -- BBC (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Cplus ( 79286 )
        Thing with Don Cherry, love him as most Canadians do, he's just a crotchety old man, a colour commentator on a sports show. It's a sign of how seriously we take our hockey that we look at him in the same light as we do news reporters.

        *looks glum

        Don't talk about hockey.

      • Re:CBC -- BBC (Score:5, Insightful)

        by MSBob ( 307239 ) on Friday January 07, 2005 @10:28AM (#11287498)
        Any media that presented any opposing views about the war in Iraq is accused of having a "left bias". US media is skewed so much to the right wing that common sense appears to be a "leftist bias".

      • Re:CBC -- BBC (Score:4, Insightful)

        by Rudeboy777 ( 214749 ) on Friday January 07, 2005 @10:30AM (#11287526)
        And he's still on, even though lots of people calling for him to be removed from the CBC.

        Only in the same sense that lots of people have called for Howard Stern to be removed (that is, only a few loudmouths). Even though Don Cherry is as "cartoon character" as Michael Moore or Rush Limbaugh, he's taken less seriously. Do you think people watch Coach's Corner for reporting?!

        Anyways, the American and Canadian notions of right and left are incompatible in many ways, and most of the posts in this entire thread are off-topic so I'll shut up now.
      • I live in Canada and quite objectively, CBC is biased to the left, but not so much so as the BCC. However, they are probably just reflecting the general leanings of their audience, which is decidedly to the left of the American audience.
  • As a java web application developer, and a Canadian, and a big fan of Zed TV, I'd just like to say how fantastic this news is.

    Kudos!

  • Big deal (Score:4, Insightful)

    by brunes69 ( 86786 ) <slashdot@nOSpam.keirstead.org> on Friday January 07, 2005 @08:59AM (#11286809)
    I saw this on CBC as well. At first I thought "that's cool", but then I went to the site. All it is is a standard website - there is no great CMS or anything else here. I can't imagine there is much below the HTML here... some simple server-side stuff, but nothing special.

    On that note though - I do applaud the idea. All company websites' code should be Open Sourced under a free license IMO. After all, the company is not making revenue by selling that code, so what good is it to them?
    • so what good is it to them?
      Too many morons believe in security through obscurity, and is why so many sites get hacked. Until you can convince them to write good code instead, then they have a "reason"
    • <Sarcastic>
      And it doesn't seem to scale too well either. C'mon, its only a slashdotting. Suck it up!
      </Sarcastic>
    • All company websites' code should be Open Sourced under a free license IMO. After all, the company is not making revenue by selling that code, so what good is it to them?

      My company makes plenty of money selling web sites driven by the same or similar code to multiple companies, thank you.

      • Sure, there are specialized companies that do this of course. Most are hosting providers and the like.

        But CNN doesn't make money by selling the code that runs CNN.com. The NY Times doesn't sell the code that runs their site. MSNBC.com doesn't sell their code either. The code behind these types of sites could be immensely useful to someone wanting to start their own fringe-hobby news site.

        • Re:In the minority (Score:3, Insightful)

          by julesh ( 229690 )
          Sure, there are specialized companies that do this of course. Most are hosting providers and the like.

          Actually, most of us advertise ourselves as IT consultants. Hosting providers tend only to sell packaged software, which isn't quite the right market.

          But CNN doesn't make money by selling the code that runs CNN.com. The NY Times doesn't sell the code that runs their site. MSNBC.com doesn't sell their code either.

          Actually, I'd say that CNN, NY Tmies and MSNBC are in the minority for owning the copyrig

  • The show (Score:5, Insightful)

    by xXunderdogXx ( 315464 ) on Friday January 07, 2005 @09:02AM (#11286828) Homepage Journal
    I'm surprised the blurb never mentioned the actual show. It was a great documentary on the free software / linux movement. I remember reading about it online every step of the way but it was totally amazing hearing what was happening directly from the people.

    You'd probably never catch that kind of open-minded programming on corporate television because it flies in the face of the conventional outlook. My favourite part was seeing Linus bring his two beautiful daughters on stage while RMS was proselytizing.

  • CBC - state run? yeah right (Score:5, Insightful)

    by topham ( 32406 ) on Friday January 07, 2005 @09:05AM (#11286852) Homepage

    CBC is not run by the Canadian government. It's FUNDED by the Canadian government.

    If the CBC were run by the government they wouldn't send so much time bashing the government. (Sometimes rightfully, sometimes not.)

    Personally I think we should cut all their funding since they run advertisements just like any other station.
    • By funding them the government is preventing them from becoming too dependent on advertising revenue. Well all know what happens when stations become too advertising focused, it almost unquestionably shrinks their ability to take risks and challenge the status quo. I'm all for increasing their funding, because sometimes it's the only good thing on television. (I think CBC should buy Showcase and Bravo)
      • Kudos to the CBC for reaching out and producing something not for the baby boom white middle to upper class crowd.

        Yip, Road to Avonlea and other such wholesome sugary sweet productions is Canadian propaganda to fool the unwitting world into believing that we Canadians are as pure as undriven snow. (cough... gag... er... polluted acid snow, that is)

        I'd like to also point out that TVOntario (who's part gov't funded and part PBS funding campaign driven) puts out alot of edgy stuff too that challenges the mi
    • There are no ads on CBC radio. Should it be cut too? And replaced with some lousy station playing Britney Friggin' Spears?
    • "It's FUNDED by the Canadian government."

      Ahem... I think you misspelled "taxpayers".

      I'd get a real warm, fuzzy feeling knowing that I was shoving ads down my own throat.

      • It's FUNDED by the Canadian government.

        Ahem... I think you misspelled "taxpayers"

        I think you misspelled "citizens".
        Who of course pay taxes with money they earn from private corporations. So really the corporations are paying you to shove the ads down your own throat. You do it for profit.

      • Reminded of that great Kids in the Hall Sketch, Screw You, Taxpayer!, wherein they explain, that since KitH was funded, in part, by the CBC, You, The Canadian Taxpayer are in fact paying for a bunch of silliness and hijinks.

      • The simple fact is this: unless you're way into Friends and Frasier, the CBC kicks the ass of any U.S. programming, especially radio. The only thing that beats it is the BBC, as others have pointed out. If that means taxpayer funding and a few (very few, to be honest, TV ads, and no radio ads), then fine.

    • Re:CBC - state run? yeah right (Score:5, Insightful)

      by SubtleNuance ( 184325 ) on Friday January 07, 2005 @09:18AM (#11286945) Journal
      Personally I think we should cut all their funding since they run advertisements just like any other station.

      Canada has one of the most free press in the world [rsf.org]. One of the reasons is that we provide an open INFRASTRUCTURE (cbc) to content. If you cut the funding for CBC, you will have a narrowing of discourse that will hinder our community's ability to communicate.

      Free enterprise isnt concerned with truth or equality or insightfullness or universal access.

      I would recommend Canada uses the BBC as a model and we Canadians implement a MORE usefull and worthwhile broadcast system.

      Commercial interests are anethma to worthwhile broadcasting.

      IF your goal is an army of mildly entertained, mildy informed consumers move Canadian Broadcasting regime towards the American model.

      If your goal is an informed and engaged public, with a method to sustain a conversation for the participants in public arts and politics Canada should build a BBC-like system.

      What do you feel our goal should be?

      And before someone says "freedom", i'll provide the preemptive retort. The CBC is evidence that state-funded enterprise can have Freedom. AND that in other places, "a free-press is for those who own one" and therefore devoid of worthwhile Freedom.

      • Freedom? No... Bias! (Score:2, Insightful)

        by issachar ( 170323 )
        The issue isn't freedom. It's bias. The CBC conceivably *could* say anything it liked. The problem is that it doesn't because it has leftist corporate culture that supresses anything else.

        You said "Commercial interests are anethma to worthwhile broadcasting". What's so special about commercial interests that makes them so evil above someone else's political views? Nothing unless you think that Noam Chomsky provides a fair and balanced assessement of the world.

        State funded media gives an unfair adva

        • Re:Freedom? No... Bias! (Score:5, Insightful)

          by MKalus ( 72765 ) <mkalus AT gmail DOT com> on Friday January 07, 2005 @10:20AM (#11287417) Homepage
          Leftist bias?

          Okay, explain to me where?

          Sure, if you compare it to the American Broadcasters the CBC is extremly to the left, but I haven't seen the CBC trott out the NDP on every occasion, blasting the Conservatives and only tolerating the Liberals.

          It seems to me that they tend to bash on everybody rather equally.

          If you mean tha the CBC is activly critizising(sp?) the big corporations and the government, then you're right. If you think that's wrong by the CBC than you are wrong.

          The media (even in the US) is supposed to be the third power, the voice of the people, not the blowhorn for commerical or political interests.

          If anything the CBC could use more funding (guranteed like the BBC) to get some more teeth.

          I don't want a broadcaster who tells me how great the world and the government is (unless it's about terrorism) instead of telling me what's really going on.

          Watch Global News if you want that, they still hope that their "news" helicopter in Toronto will find some car chases along the 401.
        • The problem is that it doesn't because it has leftist corporate culture that supresses anything else.

          Poppycock. CBCs viewpoint is representative of the community. If you compare *ANY* western media against the pro-private-corporate-consumer viewpoint of the Corporate Media -- AND you agree with this CM -- you will feel CBC is 'leftist'.

          Whats special about commercial insterest is commercial interest. In short, dont expect probing investigation into American consumer culture, its crass shallowness, ecol
      • Free enterprise isnt concerned with truth or equality or insightfullness or universal access.
        Neither is the CBC. If we, as a society, have learned anything, it's that truth, equality, insightfullness and universal access comes from being able to choose from many different viewpoints and opinions. The CBC doesn't provide that. The CBC provides whatever thier programming directors, under the guidance of their superiors, give us.

        The CBC is evidence that state-funded enterprise can have Freedom
        Hmmm ... here

    • Re:CBC - state run? yeah right (Score:5, Informative)

      by gstoddart ( 321705 ) on Friday January 07, 2005 @09:27AM (#11287006) Homepage
      CBC is not run by the Canadian government. It's FUNDED by the Canadian government.


      Well, the CBC is a Crown Corporation [thecanadia...opedia.com]. Which means they're owned by the government, report to the government, but expected to operate as a commercial enterprise. It is a bit of an arms length relationship. They fill a role that private industry can't/won't fill while still trying to serve the public interest. There's quite a few [parl.gc.ca] crown corporations in existence.

      Personally I think we should cut all their funding since they run advertisements just like any other station.


      Well, they're supposed to. Since they have to try and run as a profit generating (hopefully) corporation, they conduct regular commercial activities. You may not like the whole system of Crown corporations, but singling out the CBC for fulfilling their role is a little misplaced.

      Cheers

    • Re:CBC - state run? yeah right (Score:5, Insightful)

      by issachar ( 170323 ) on Friday January 07, 2005 @09:43AM (#11287123) Homepage
      oh right... I'm sorry, I forgot. It's only when you're corporate funded that you become a shill for the corporate raiders of globablization. When you get funded by the "government" (not by taxpayers mind you), you become enlightened and lose your biases.

      The CBC is not as closely run by the Canadian government as Radio North Korea, and it does criticize the government, but it's a lot more closely run by the government than say CNN. If you rely on a single group/person for a good chunk of your cash you become slightly run by them whether you like it or not.

      Of course the bigger issue is the fact that the CBC is a ludicrously biased news organization masquerading as the source of balanced news all the while receiving dump truck loads of cash from tax payers. I don't remember where I heard this, but someone did a little research a while back to find out who would be the Canadian government if only CBC employees got to vote. Answer: Majority NDP Federal government. No bias in the news here, move along...

      • CNN all of a sudden has the stones to criticize the government? Now THATS news to me. All CNN does it snuff the current administration's butt (since Ted Turner left, anyway).

        Ditch the super model anchors, ditch the massive filters what stories you bring to America (NOT ONE story on the genocides), and then I'll start watching again.
      • Answer: Majority NDP Federal government. No bias in the news here, move along...

        Go figure, when you watch their news and satire programming, they're generally liberal leaning. They go a long way to crush anything conservative (listen to The Current sometime and see) or extreme ...

        I suspect that your research is pulled out of someones ass. The fact that a lot of CBC is unionized might have biased the poll, but I think it's as accurate as me saying that if only geeks were allowed to vote, the largest bre

  • Revolution OS (Score:2, Informative)

    by _J_ ( 30559 )
    I caught a bit of this last night. My favourite quote came from Stallman: "Giving the Linus Torvalds Award to the Free Software Foundation is a bit like giving the Han Solo Award to the Rebel Alliance." [wikiquote.org]

    I had to track down this quote this morning after hearing it last night.

  • Since when did we get states in Canada? did I sleep through that meeting too?

    Jojo

  • Business (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Quill_28 ( 553921 ) on Friday January 07, 2005 @09:11AM (#11286895) Journal
    "It's always heartening to see cool things come from a state run corporation"

    Yes, it is heartening to see my money(tax dollars), run me out of business.

    • Ignorance is bliss...

      If you made 100.000 and pay 30% in tax (as an example), if taxes were abolished, do you really think that the company that employ you would give you the extra 30.000? If you do, I have a bridge in New York I'm willing to sell cheap.

      The company would just reduce your salary from 100.000 to 70.000 since you would still get the same net pay. The 30% that the company now pays for you in taxes would then go to their bottom line. Simple economics. A company first and foremost is in the bu

    • Re:Business (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Da Fokka ( 94074 ) on Friday January 07, 2005 @09:56AM (#11287227) Homepage
      Yes, it is heartening to see my money(tax dollars), run me out of business.

      Frankly, if you can be run out of business by a state run corporation you really don't deserver to be in business at all.

      • Re:Business (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Sentry21 ( 8183 )
        Frankly, if you can be run out of business by a state run corporation you really don't deserver to be in business at all.

        Frankly, if you can be run out of business by one single website open-sourcing their code, you really don't deserve to be in business at all.

        Specifically, if your software's usefulness is so precarious that a little-known website (globally speaking) open-sourcing their code can put a dent in your customer base, you have problems.
      • So there are no open source software packages out there, that were paid with public dollars, that are worth anything?

  • State run or not -- good move. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ACK!! ( 10229 ) on Friday January 07, 2005 @09:17AM (#11286929) Journal
    Nice to see people in general in private and public sector funded groups dishing out the code.

    Not that useful? So what.

    Its like that ugly tie from your sweet 80 year old Aunt --- its the thought that counts.

  • CBC and Free / Open Source Software (Score:5, Informative)

    by gmailflows ( 787787 ) on Friday January 07, 2005 @09:26AM (#11286998) Homepage
    The CBC (a Canadian Crown Corporation) is a large media organization with diverse interests and actors. Internally it is divided into three distinct branches: Television, Radio, and New Media. While there is no official "pro open source" policy at the CBC, there are large numbers of us who promote open source at every opportunity.

    Zed is based in Vancouver and is somewhat independent from the core of CBC's new media efforts, and as a result have had the freedom to do what they've done re: build and release an open source app. Unfortunately a great deal of the cbc.ca content system is based upon microsoft .asp and the funds and will do not seem to be present to follow the model of zed in embracing free and open source software. With that said, cbc.ca does use apache/linux servers from akami...

    The next step as others have noted would be for the CBC to join the BBC wrt codec development.
  • I'll believe the CBC is being tech sensible when they stop using Real Media exclusively from video & audio clips. Supported by tax dollars and they still won't use anything else... gah!

  • The site seems to be down . . . I can certainly see why the code is so appealing.

  • Reminds me of Brave New Waves... (Score:5, Informative)

    by hung_himself ( 774451 ) on Friday January 07, 2005 @09:33AM (#11287045)
    Back in the 80's the CBC FM would just put canned classical music on at late night - no hosts no nothing. Somehow, they completed deviated from their classical/jazz lineup and as an experiment Brave New Waves was born playing alternative music when it was alternative. A wide variety of stuff - Einsturzende Neubauen, Pogues, Butth0le surfers, Skinny Puppy, Jesus Mary Chain... It had a really cool hostess Augusta Le Pay who would munch on pizza while interviewing Laurie Andersen and a pyschic before playing an hour of the sound of fences howling in the wind. Remember this was at a time when alternative music got no air play and on a network known for it's news and playing Vivaldi's 4 seasons every 20 minutes.

    Hopefully Zed will be the net version of this with just completely off-the-wall content. I'm not that optimistic - but we'll see. A lot of Brave New Waves success had to do with Augusta's and her producer's skill walking the thin line between quirky and interesting and stupid and dull...

    And get over this "state run is crap" stuff (friggin' Enron fanboys...) - the CBC and BBC for that matter do occasionally provide programming that is a counterpoint to for example, Fox's "Who's your Daddy?"...
    • thanks for the love.. zed is a commercial free (!!!) showcase of independent talent.. the thrust is on hilighting canadian film makers through short films, but much of our content is international.

      personally, I adore CBC radio 3's programming and wicked web presense [cbcradio3.com].. there are definitely cool things happening there.

  • Um... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by SinaSa ( 709393 ) on Friday January 07, 2005 @09:33AM (#11287046) Homepage
    Anyone care to explain what this is, to those of us too lazy to read the article, and ignorant enough to not already know what it is?

    • Re:Um... (Score:2, Informative)

      by ivar ( 31153 )
      ZeD is the Canadian Broadcasting COrporation's cross platform (wbe & tv) initiative.. see our what is zed [zed.cbc.ca] page for more details.

      Aside - one thing that isn't trumpeted but I think rocks is that our programming is commercial free. The TV show is aired at 11:25 PM because it often has content of an 'adult' nature. We don't want to compromise our artistic integrity (if something is hard to watch, but considered by us to be a valuable piece then our editors will put it on air..) for advertisers.. it also ma
  • Anyone care to summarize WTF "Zed TV" is? And what "zed.cbc.ca" is? The site is down.

    Typical /. elitism...put a news blurb on the front page and automatically assume everyone knows exactly what you're talking about.

    • ZED is actually a rather highly addictive TV show on CBC.

      Runs for around an hour every night at ~11:30pm.

      It shows short movies, clips, interviews.... Pretty much "clustered" around "themes".

      The content comes from all over the world, and if they can they put the stuff online at zed.cbc.ca

      Also the community on ZED can contribute, publish their own movies, stories, photos and some of those are even put on the air.

  • CBC experimenting with Ogg Vorbis streaming too (Score:5, Informative)

    by sgarrity ( 262297 ) on Friday January 07, 2005 @09:39AM (#11287090) Homepage
    The CBC recently moved from Real formats to Windows Media formats [worksintheory.org] for streaming audio.

    After receiving complaints about the proprietary nature of their formats, they started experimenting with Ogg Vorbis streaming [www.cbc.ca].

  • More (Score:4, Informative)

    by locarecords.com ( 601843 ) <david@lFREEBSDocarecords.com minus bsd> on Friday January 07, 2005 @09:44AM (#11287133) Homepage Journal

    This is really encouraging to see the the public service broadcasters 'getting' open source and trying to contribute to the community. If this could take off it could be a great boost to the entire copyleft/open-source ideas.

    However I would warn that in the UK the content industry is sharpening its knives over The BBC Creative Archive [bbc.co.uk]. I attended a conference given at Westminster Media Forum [ibiblio.org] where the representatives of the content industry where rabid about copyright and patent law and extremely hysterical about 'idea theft' as it was colourfully termed. When they heard about the Creative Archive plan... Phew! Some scary people were there... And they are not impressed with Creative Commons - who were shouted at, verbally attacked and generally given a very very frosty reception...

    Strangest contribution (and it was a difficult choice considering the crazy assertions and unsubstantiated nonsense spoken) has to be the Arlene McCarthy MEP [labour.co.uk] linking copyright, patent and 'idea' theft with 'Organised Crime', 'Paedophilia', 'Pornography', 'Terrorism' and 'Paramilitary Organisations'... She was truly loopy, and more worryingly serious!

    John Naughton [open.ac.uk] was fantastic castigating the dangers from 'slavish legislaters' (she didn't like that!) and gave a really excellent and balanced presentation [open.ac.uk] calling for caution against listening to only the interests of the media corporations and content industry.

    Most scary person (again a difficult choice) was Lavinia Carey [aacp.org.uk], Director of FACT [fact-uk.org.uk] who told us that '65% of people didn't think it was a problem to share stuff' and that 'consumers have to be protected from themselves' and those who didn't were 'gonna get a shock'. To get a feeling for the balanced tone see the campaign to link copyright 'theft' and terrorism [piracyisacrime.com]... Scary!

  • Yay! (Score:2)

    by hey! ( 33014 )
    Now that that's out of the way, care to clue us in on what the software does?

    Looking at their reasonably nice web site I'm guessing um, content management?

  • Grabby ToS (Score:4, Interesting)

    by tony_ratboy ( 228844 ) on Friday January 07, 2005 @09:46AM (#11287158) Homepage
    It's too bad ZeD still has "grabby" Terms and Conditions. Basically when you submit work to the ZeD, you're giving the CBC the work to use forever, in any medium, without restriction, for profit, and you're giving CBC the right to license your material to third parties. Canadian submitters even waive their moral rights, which means that the CBC can bastardize the contributor's work with impunity. It's all in the fine print. And we all know how many people read that.

    Contibutors don't get paid. The CBC is a for-profit corporation. So if you're submitting, for example, a song to CBC's ZeD TV, just be aware that the CBC can use it as the title track for a new TV show, and never pay a cent in royalties. You're not even guaranteed credit for the work--credit is displayed "where applicable."

    Basically for the cost of producing the low-budget ZeD TV, the CBC has built themselves a huge library of content which they can repackage and resell without restriction until the end of time.

    Excerpt from ZeD Terms below

    ===Content may be used by CBC===
    By voluntarily submitting or uploading content or material to the website (the "Submission"), you expressly consent to the use by CBC of such Submission on any CBC website, CBC television/radio program, CBC recording, and CBC marketing material or other paraphernalia related to CBC programming. You grant CBC a royalty-free, perpetual, non-exclusive, irrevocable, unrestricted, worldwide license to: (i) use, reproduce, store, modify, make derivative works from, transmit, distribute, publicly perform or display such Submission for any purpose, and (ii) to sublicense to third parties the unrestricted right to exercise any of the foregoing rights. In addition. you agree to: (i) waive all moral rights in any Submission in favour of CBC, (ii) consent to your name, address and e-mail appearing as the contributor of any Submission, where applicable, and to the disclosure and/or display of such information and any other information which appears in or is associated with a Submission, (iii) acknowledge and agree that CBC is not responsible for any loss, damage, or corruption that may occur to your Submission, and (iv) acknowledge and agree that any Submission you provide for display on the Website will be considered non-confidential.

    • Re:Grabby ToS (Score:2, Insightful)

      by pappin ( 783362 )
      But isn't that the point of "Open Content"? I mean what they are really saying is that by submitting "open content" your allowing them to use it for as long as they like... which is the same rights you have when you decide to use a software product or content with a similar licence. They are just covering it from their side of the fence.

      So, why are you paranoid about it? You offer it up as open content in the first place, they are just making it official so you can't claim otherwise later!

    • The CBC is not a for-profit corporation - it is a Crown corporation, and therefore owned by the Government of Canada. It receives taxpayer funding - it has never made any money that has gone into the public coffers (which is where any money that happens to be made by a Crown corporation goes - for example, the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) is a Crown corporation owned by the Government of Ontario, and it makes around 600 million dollars each year that is put into the Ontario government's coffers to

    • Re:Grabby ToS (Score:3, Interesting)

      by grozzie2 ( 698656 )
      You have to take a step back and look at the big picture. First off, cbc and profit, two diametrically opposed concepts, do not belong in the same sentence without a negative modifier :)

      CBC is a corporation, even if it's owned by the crown, it still operates as a corporation, one that's been around for a VERY long time. That means they have all the trappings of a large corp, nasty little things like a legal department, accounting department, etc etc. CBC has been around since 1936, that makes them a ra

  • To the "WTF is ZeD" people: (Score:5, Informative)

    by iantri ( 687643 ) <iantri@gmxSTRAW.net minus berry> on Friday January 07, 2005 @09:55AM (#11287216) Homepage
    ZeD is a "media convergence experiment", i.e. a website and TV show on the CBC at 11:25pm. It runs for 40 minutes, commercial-free, and shows short films, documentaries, independent music acts, mostly Canadian.

    The content is (mostly) available on the rather nifty website; most of the show's content originates from it. Think DeviantART, except for all types of media, and with a TV show that showcases the best of it.

  • Just a small clarification though, the CBC is not 'state-run'....it's 'state-funded'. Subtle but important. A state-run media organization would act as the mouth-piece of the current regime where being state-funded only means you have to lick a few boots at budget time ;-)

  • NewMusicCanada - CBC (Score:3, Interesting)

    by katsiris ( 779774 ) on Friday January 07, 2005 @11:23AM (#11288079)
    CBC is getting progressively better and I'm proud to have it in our country. Zed is a great program, but I'm surprised nobody has mentioned sites like New Music Canada [newmusiccanada.ca] or CBC Radio 3 [cbcradio3.com], which both feature independant music and host their songs free.

    Another great site is Just Concerts [justconcerts.ca], which features professionally recorded bands from all over the world (though principally Canada) performing live in Canadian venues and studios.

    Admittedly, it's not open source, and so a little off topic, but think of it as the equivalent in the music world.

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