The BBC's new-ish Internet Blog continues to throw out useful posts from the previously low-profile executives; this week it's the turn of Eric Huggers, group controller of future media and technology.
Huggers left Microsoft to join the BBC and, as he points out here, many people were quite surprised about the move - there are no stock options and you become a civil servant.
He spent nine years at Microsoft working with media, entertainment, telecoms and consumer electronics clients.
"However hard I worked, I was always trying to convince third parties to adopt platform technologies. My true passion is all about using cutting edge digital media technologies to establish new innovative services for consumers. When I realized that, I knew that it was time to move on.
"I briefly looked at some of the Hollywood studios and related industries, but realized that their business models would make innovation very, very hard. To truly make things happen, the studios will have to reinvent their business models and feel comfortable with cannibalising existing/legacy revenues."
In the comments, David Russell didn't waste any time jumping in to accuse the BBC of bias, saying it offers a second-class service to licence-fee payers who are not Microsoft customers. He was pointed to Ashley Highfield's Groklaw interview, where Highfield denied that the recruitment of Microsofters has influenced the corporation's technology choices. He pointed out that the memorandum of understanding between the BBC and Microsoft is the same as the one between the BBC and Google, and IBM and Siemens.
Thomas said the BBC's blogs are a waste of resources, a "touchy-feely gimmick" and a paranoid mess, but I think that's a little harsh. We hear precious little from executives other than at well-rehearesed conferences and launches, and even if blog posts are equally polished at least there's the opportunity to put questions to them. Many of the posts are a little stiff, I grant you, but perhaps they will be come a little more fluid over time.
Source: BBC Internet Blog
