[LINK] Ogg Vorbis and Theora removed from HTML5

[Rick Welykochy]

Linkers,

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.


cheers
rickw



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Rick Welykochy || Praxis Services

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