BBC has reached the stage of limited public beta testing for its craved iPlayer, an application that streams content from the British television’s programming from the last week.

In the era of Web-apps like Joost, Babelgum and the upcoming LiveStation from Microsoft, it’s becoming clear that television as we know it is undergoing major changes that will probably confirm Bill Gates’ prophecy: “in five years from now, we’ll be laughing at the way we look at television today”.

British Broadcasting Channel cannot afford to stand still in front of the competition and iPlayer is a great example of how competition drives the industry.

According to the official page, iPlayer will let you download a wide range of BBC television programmes for free from the last seven days. The programmes you choose to download are stored in your BBC iPlayer Library on your computer for up to 30 days. You then have up to seven days to watch them. Once you download them you don't have to be on the internet to watch them when it suits you. BBC is still testing BBC iPlayer and is making improvements and for that the public beta testing began.

If you're based in the UK and aged over 16, you can apply to join the BBC iPlayer Beta, but there are also some nasty requirements that you need to fulfill. And those conditions outraged the open source community.

For example, iPlayer only works with Windows XP. No MacOSX, no Linux, no FreeBSD, not even Windows Vista. A Mac version is in the works but it will not be available until later this year. You are also required to have Windows Media Player 10 or above installed, 500MB of system RAM, JavaScript, ActiveX and Cookies activated, and A video and sound card capable of playing high quality streamed or downloaded programmes. Oh, and you also need a broadband connection.

Because of the Windows exclusivity, more than 12,000 people have already signed an e-petition to 10 Downing Street over the iPlayer's tie-in with Redmond. BBC is currently in talks with open source advocates to find a way to protect its IP on an open source platform.