[LINK] Ogg Vorbis and Theora removed from HTML5

[Kim Holburn]

On 2007/Dec/17, at 12:07 AM, Alastair Rankine wrote:

> Rick Welykochy wrote:
>> 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.
>
> I support the intent behind this change. It should not be up to the  
> HTML spec to recommend (and it was only a recommendation) any  
> specific video codec, regardless of the merits (or otherwise) of  
> any one of them.
>
> The HTML spec should be reasonably stable and not subject to the  
> turbulence that exists around video compression technology and  
> associated intellectual property issues. A change in technology or  
> licensing could, for example, instantly render the Ogg  
> recommendation obsolete (or at least a lot less clear-cut).

The spec recommends particular image compression technologies and  
they have not always been unencumbered and the same gotchas apply to  
them too and yet where would we be without images on the www?  Same  
for audio - hasn't bgsound been around for a while with the same issues.

> However it seems to me that the change to the HTML5 spec *is*  
> making a codec recommendation, or at least a non-recommendation. By  
> saying that none of the current codecs are suitable for various  
> reasons, the document is straying outside of its (declared) scope.
>
> This is particularly problematic when one of the reasons given for  
> the non-recommendation is based on its assessment of Ogg's  
> (actually unstated but obvious in the context of the change)  
> exposure to submarine patent violation. This is *well* outside  
> scope for the HTML spec IMHO.
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--
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
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Democracy imposed from without is the severest form of tyranny.
                           -- Lloyd Biggle, Jr. Analog, Apr 1961