After grumbles and e-petitions galore, the BBC has finally relaunched its 5-month-old iPlayer service, now with limited support for Macs.

The now Apple-friendly service, which is currently in beta, allows users to stream programmes broadcast over the past 7 days to their browser.

The Mac version is paired down and does not offer, for example, the facility to download programmes to watch at any time within a 30-day window.

It is, however, a move towards the ultimate aim of making the iPlayer platform neutral - which was the verdict of a government report, which came about after complaints from the public about the iPlayer's Windows bias.

Despite this latest move, the BBC continues to argue that finding a digital rights management solution to fit both Macs and Windows PCs would be difficult, as iPlayer uses Microsoft's copy protection technology, which is only available on Windows.

The open source community are still waiting for a solution that allows them to enjoy the service, funded by public money.

>> Link - BBC iPlayer
>> Via - PC Pro