Maciej Stachowiak wrote:
This isn't the first time you've restated something in what seems like a
needlessly inflammatory way. Your earlier message in the thread
basically said that unless Apple implements Ogg Theora, we "don't
actually have a commitment to interoperability".
Close. "Unless Apple implements a codec which is implementable by the
other browser vendors, they don't really have a commitment to
interoperability" would be about it. I didn't mean Theora specifically,
although only two freely-implementable-in-free-software codecs have so
far been suggested (Theora and Dirac).
Again, I deny this is inflammatory. You cannot say both "we have a
strong commitment to interoperability" and "we are only going to
implement a codec which it is impossible for other browsers to ship".
They are contradictory. One or the other has to give.
You may dispute the "impossible" - but if we were trying to mandate a
standard which required a patent which was available only to free
software, and we told you "just make all of Safari open source", that
would probably be a lesser level of impossibility than "make Firefox
closed source" (which would be required to allow it to ship MPEG).
(Regular reminder: only speaking for myself.)
But you are right; this is an impasse, and there's not much point going
on. Barring a miraculous change of heart from either the members of the
MPEG-LA or from Apple, there will be no standard codec for <video>
across all browsers and platforms. Pity the content authors (well,
either them, or the users of minority platforms).
Gerv
