- From: Charles McCathieNevile <chaals@opera.com>
- Date: Sun, 02 Dec 2007 15:12:47 +0100
- To: "Olivier GENDRIN" <olivier.gendrin@gmail.com>, "HTML Issue Tracking WG" <public-html@w3.org>
On Sat, 01 Dec 2007 09:31:42 +0100, Olivier GENDRIN <olivier.gendrin@gmail.com> wrote: > On Dec 1, 2007 3:25 AM, HTML Issue Tracking Issue Tracker > <sysbot+tracker@w3.org> wrote: >> To: connolly@w3.org, public-html@w3.org >> Subject: RE: Request for clarification on HTML 5 publication status >> (ISSUE-19) >> >> we see benefit to publish a first WD of the HTML5 spec. To avoid any >> patent issues we request deletion of the following clause from the spec >> before it is published. We support publication under the condition this >> change is made. Like Maciej, if this is a SHOULD-level requirement it doesn't raise any issues in terms of the patent policy. >> > "User agents should support Ogg Theora video and Ogg Vorbis audio, as >> > well as the Ogg container format." in 3.14.7.1. > > Couldn't we replace that sentence by a more general one, speaking > about 'at least one patent-free format' ? We could, but that would be pointless. This is not fundamentally about some nice idea of how people should be sharing and caring, it is about whether or not video will interoperate on the Web. In order for that goal to be reached, we need to have codecs on the various platforms the web is available on, and in order to do that we either have to tell people to stop building new devices (which would be as useful as turning back the tides) or find a way we can have codecs reliably. W3C's position on patents comes from this very pragmatic consideration - if people are unable to port technologies then in the long term those technologies are likely to fade away. If you want to make YouTube, it probably doesn't matter. After all, very deep pockets and very ephemeral content are a good combination - and if you become the 900-pound gorilla you can probably even afford to upgrade the content to a new technology whenever you want to. But if you are trying to develop instructional material for water engineers in Bolivia, or deal with important but sensitive cultural material in northern Australia or Cambodia, the cost of the wrong decision is pretty significant - more so if it actually costs money to have made the decision, along with investment in particular tools, etc. cheers Chaals -- Charles McCathieNevile Opera Software, Standards Group je parle français -- hablo español -- jeg lærer norsk http://my.opera.com/chaals Try the Kestrel - Opera 9.5 alpha
Received on Sunday, 2 December 2007 14:13:48 UTC