[Linux-aus] Fwd: Ogg Vorbis and Theora removed from HTML5

[Silvia Pfeiffer]

Just one piece of de-mystification here: WHATWG are currently
developing HTML5 and in that context, the codec choice of "Ogg Theora"
as baseline codec has been taken out of the current specification
draft because the browser vendors were unable to all commit on
implementing this spec, therefore defeating the purpose of a baseline
codec.

WHATWG is not the W3C however! It does not ratify standards. Taking
Theora out of the spec has thus enabled a discussion to take place.
The discussion about a baseline codec is continuing and being taken up
inside the W3C only just now. In fact, the legal and technical
comparison of different, potentially acceptable codecs is now only
just starting. There has not been enough information carried together
beforehand to make that decision, and therefore the decision had been
reverted.

BTW: I attended the W3C video workshop in San Jose this week where
much discussion was had about codecs. Trust me - everybody wants to
see this problem solved and in a way that all browser vendors (and
that includes Mozilla, Apple, MS, Opera and others) are able to
implement the baseline codec support, both from a legal as well as a
technical position. And according to W3C policy, a royalty-free
technology is required. So I am confident the issue will be resolved -
even though it may not necessarily be Ogg Theora as the baseline codec
in the end.

Cheers,
Silvia.


On Dec 16, 2007 1:47 PM, Janet Hawtin <lucychili at gmail.com> wrote:
> via LINK
>
> In move that can only be described as a FUD-driven attempt by Apple
> and other proprietary codec holders or supporters, the W3 has so far
> bowed to pressure to remove Ogg/Vorbis and Theora from the emerging
> HTML-5 specification.
>
> More here:
>
> http://rudd-o.com/archives/2007/12/11/removal-of-ogg-vorbis-and-theora-from-html5-an-outrageous-disaster/
>
> or
>
> http://tinyurl.com/yp5zm6
>
>     "Update: the discussion at the WHATWG list is centering around
>      the fact that Microsoft, Nokia and Apple disagree on having Ogg
>      technology mentioned on the spec, due (I loosely quote them) to
>      the potential threat that submarine patents may pose. My personal
>      opinion is that you don't get any freer than Ogg, and there is no
>      such patent threat because major hardware and software players
>      (gaming companies and America Online / Winamp, for example) have
>      already shipped at least Ogg Vorbis technology in the past. Until
>      this conundrum is resolved, they're taking Ogg technology off the
>      table because they don't want to implement it in their browsers."
>
> This strikes me as exceedingly self-serving on the part of the proprietary
> players, since the very reasons (FUD) they give apply to themselves, i.e.
> Quicktime (Sorenson) codecs used by Apple and the WMV formats used by
> Microsoft are encumbered by patents.
>
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