Some of the biggest names in tech are teaming up to revamp the way video works on the internet. The roster includes Amazon, Cisco, Intel, Google, Microsoft, Mozilla, and Netflix. Interesting that Apple and Facebook are not on that list. Perhaps they will be at some point. The companies have come together to create the Alliance for Open Media. The group includes all three major web browser makers, of course excluding Apple and their Safari web browser.
The new format has yet to be named, but could make it easier for web giants to move away from using the antiquated Adobe Flash. It seems the world has been calling for it's death for some time, but Rocky Balboa, it just keeps getting up. There's more to this new concept than just being a replacement. It will be designed specifically for streaming video over the web with the idea being that it's suitable for low power devices. Again, interesting that Apple isn't on board with this yet, because for a while they didn't support Flash on their mobile devices saying that it was a power hog. The new format will also support copy protection. This makes perfect sense for companies like Netflix. The cherry on the top is that it will be royalty free. Open source and royalty free? Huzza!
The risk overall is that this creates confusion with yet another standard for companies and developers to handle. Adoption rate will likely be slow, the haters will hate, and the general public may not know the difference except when they go to view a video and receive the error that says the format is not supported. Could be worse, I suppose. The concept does make sense though. Finding a way to implement a new standard that is advancing along side of the ever-changing tech is the only way to go. Only time will tell.
No comments:
Post a Comment