Re: Codecs for <video> and <audio>

On Tue, 7 Jul 2009, Silvia Pfeiffer wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 8:56 AM, Ian Hickson<ian@hixie.ch> wrote:
> > On Mon, 6 Jul 2009, Jonas Sicking wrote:
> >>
> >> So the only way to move forward that I can see is to ensure Theoras 
> >> popularity. Having HTML 5 endorse theora would be a big step in that 
> >> direction (the last point is as I understand it the one you don't 
> >> agree with?).
> >
> > I don't think the spec will have any effect on Theora's popularity. In 
> > fact, Theora is probably already more popular than anything else in 
> > the spec, if we go by volume of e-mail sent per topic. Nothing else in 
> > the spec has resulted in this much media attention.
> 
> In your eyes, what would be the downside of writing Theora into the 
> spec? It seems to me that many people see an advantage in doing so. I 
> haven't heard of any disadvantages yet.

The downside is that it would not match reality.

I think it would be harmful to spec something that is actively different 
than what a browser vendor will implement. This is why HTML5 started -- 
because the W3C wrote specs that were idealistic and did not match the 
actual deployed landscape.

-- 
Ian Hickson               U+1047E                )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
http://ln.hixie.ch/       U+263A                /,   _.. \   _\  ;`._ ,.
Things that are impossible just take longer.   `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'

Received on Monday, 6 July 2009 23:31:15 UTC