Dean Hachamovitch took an opportunity to talk about Microsoft’s point of view on HTML5 video.
Namely, the view that they will only support H.264.
Why do that post now? Get it out before Google I/O and VP8 gets released and opened? Follow Steve Jobs’ attack on Adobe (which talks about the openness of H.264?).
Dean says:
H.264 is an industry standard
Not an open standard.
Robert O’Callahan of Mozilla comments:
Dean, I think it’s quite dangerous for you to say “developers can rely on the H.264 codec and hardware acceleration support of the underlying operating system, like Windows 7, without paying any additional royalty.”
when the Windows 7 H.264 codec is licensed only for non-commercial use. See
http://download.microsoft.com/Documents/UseTerms/Windows%207_Ultimate_English_c44ca3df-8338-4a2f-a176-39d2e68986c4.pdf
THIS PRODUCT IS LICENSED UNDER THE AVC, THE VC-1, THE MPEG-4 PART 2 VISUAL, AND THE MPEG-2 VIDEO PATENT PORTFOLIO LICENSES FOR THE PERSONAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL USE OF A CONSUMER TO (i) ENCODE VIDEO IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE ABOVE STANDARDS (“VIDEO
STANDARDS”) AND/OR (ii) DECODE AVC, VC-1, MPEG-4 PART 2 AND MPEG-2 VIDEO THAT WAS ENCODED BY A CONSUMER ENGAGED IN A PERSONAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY OR WAS OBTAINED FROM A VIDEO PROVIDER LICENSED TO PROVIDE SUCH VIDEO. NONE OF THE
LICENSES EXTEND TO ANY OTHER PRODUCT REGARDLESS OF WHETHER SUCH PRODUCT IS INCLUDED WITH THIS PRODUCT IN A SINGLE ARTICLE.
Now that Dean has started the conversation, I hope that it is two way…. and a conversation. Will they truly ONLY support H.264? Regardless of codes installed on the system? Of a potential VP8? Never Ogg?
The IE9 preview has been very promising. The Web is the platform, and Microsoft knows they need to be the game. There is very much room for them at the Open Web table, I just hope we all share the bread in a constructive way.
