Are they to make the same mistakes over and over?

[luntrus]

My dear forum friends,

It is also good to know what is the HTML 5 video=codec controversy in the background
between Mozilla and the other parties about: http://shaver.off.net/diary/2010/01/23/ ... nd-codecs/
This is what plays and we are about to make the same mistakes as with Flash, IE etc. etc.?
I have been listening to the debate and here is what are some reactions from the field....
About the choice for H.264 in HTML 5 -
Dirac is also free of patents, functions equally or in some ways better than H.264 does.
It is being used in the broadcast-scene under the VC-codec.
Why Fx and Google are having problems about the implementation when a solution is already there?
And also theora is a solution to be implemented.
h.264 and Dirac weigh rather heavy as codecs, one should have quite some CPU to run it.
Dirac runs under GPU and the Schrodinger impelementation, is the thing for CPU platforms,
and quality wise Theora is no rival for Dirac, also because it is free of patents.
Dirac will "blow" Theora away...
Open source is not bad, but here the discussion is all is about licence-fees, and who pays these large sums,
yes these fees, $ 5 million on an annual basis, are now being paid for their users by Microsoft, Google,
and especially Apple in this case.
Like PNG and JPEG for pictures, there are aslo free solutions for video codecs,
but now users, developers and content-makers alike are forced to pay for such a basic implementation routine,
So Theora and Dirac to be used in browsers, and if the browser do not support these, use the well-known Java-player.
To be simple and transparent.

Who has the bigger problem here MPEG-LA or Mozilla?
Will they offer Mozilla a free licence to maintain their monopoly position.
But to make MS use Theora 1.1. for video is a difficult tasks for
firms like MS, Opera and Apple alike, all with their fear of patents,
they won't switch to open standards.
But there is something quite different here, one could choose the
closed format to create a monopoly.
x264 namely is a GPL code build of exactly the same H.264 codec.
But H.264 is patent-encumbered and cannot be used because it
does not meet the DSFG and therefore cannot be included in
Debian. x264 is completely free and open,
but another problem here could be that the technologies used there has related patents,
so another obstacle for use of it here.

Then the HTML 5 spec could have solved this with the Video tag
properties for an opt-in download for a codec.
But that is not for us, NS-folks... the security aware, because it would mean a royal way in for malware....

So Mozilla does not agree with the video-standard choice of the
other major players, and they could have had a good reason for that,
I saw so may so enthusiastically relate here the launch of this new HTML5 video-beta,
but are the enthusiasyts aware of the implications, and do they really think
they would be as enthusiastic as this means the same monopoly only with anothermonopoly holder(s)?

luntrus

[dhouwn]

h.264 and Dirac weigh rather heavy as codecs, one should have quite some CPU to run it.
Dirac runs under GPU and the Schrodinger impelementation, is the thing for CPU platforms,

So if I understand it correctly there exists an implementation that makes use of a PC-GPU. What about mobile platforms?

and quality wise Theora is no rival for Dirac, also because it is free of patents.
Dirac will "blow" Theora away...

What does quality have to do with being patent-free? Also, while the developers of the implementations try to not infringe any third party patents, there is always an incertitude left, for Theora as well as for Dirac…