Re: Need for culture access with non-mainstream OSes (was Re: Campaign...)

On Jan 11, 2014, at 12:30 , cobaco <cobaco@freemen.be> wrote:

> it goes as follows:
> - only half the spec part is specified, the other part is a black box
> - to get to play, you need both parts, which means you'll need to convince the 
> black box manufacturers to support your setup
> - simple economics means that inevitably everyone on a non-mainstream platform 
> will be left out in the cold for the black box part, and it being a black box 
> they won't be able to help themselves out

This is true of all APIs that access capability in the system outside the browser.  Try using a web site that assumes audio capability on a system which lacks it, for example.

I think your point is that in the case of audio, I could (in theory) make my own machine with audio capability, adapt an open-source OS and browser to run on it, and without getting anything that’s not freely available on the open market I’d be set without having to talk to anyone.  In the case of a single-vendor DRM system, this is not possible.

Long ago, on this mailing list, this was recognized as an issue, and we’re still looking for better proposals that recognize the need and the issues.  I.e. you are repeating old points.

David Singer
Multimedia and Software Standards, Apple Inc.

Received on Saturday, 11 January 2014 20:42:07 UTC