Microsoft Is Releasing an H.264 Plugin For Firefox 245
ndogg writes "Microsoft has announced that it is releasing an H.264 plugin for Firefox. This plugin does not add H.264 capabilities to Firefox, but rather allows it to use the H.264 capabilities built into Windows 7. With that in mind, it sounds like it may not work on anything other than Windows 7."
Good (Score:5, Insightful)
Seems like a pretty reasonable solution to me.
Sounds just like Microsoft (Score:1, Insightful)
a) Upgrade your XP/Vista box to Windows 7
b) Say goodbye to your Mac
c) Ditch your *nix distro
I can't really see many people doing that. However for anybody using the operating system, it's really not such a bad idea. While the idea of Microsoft developing a Firefox extension may turn heads, they're only doing it to benefit themselves.
And everything went better than expected. (Score:5, Insightful)
Open slashdot... see add... Microsoft releasing plugin for Firefox (huh?) open article, "oh only works on Win7"... look for reason to get angry at Microsoft... can't find any on this one, seems like a nice thing, hear a bird outside, sip my soda, nice day out.
Re:Sounds just like Microsoft (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Sounds just like Microsoft (Score:5, Insightful)
Are you proposing that Microsoft should also write Firefox extensions to utilize the lower-level internals of other operating systems such as OSX and Linux, although Microsoft has neither the technical experience nor obligation to do so, just to keep competing operating systems on a level playing field? I'm sure that 3rd parties will quickly follow suite and provide similar functionality for other operating systems, assuming it can be done at all.
Remember, Firefox does not include an H.264 decoder due to patent issues. MS holds the necessary licenses already - essentially those licensed to use Windows have already paid in some way for H.264 codecs, thus MS is doing Firefox users a big favor by extending that functionality. I'm sure Apple can do the same with OSX, but I'm unsure about the whole patent issue when it comes to Linux.
If I remember correctly, when people were complaining about Firefox not supporting H.264 decoding, Mozilla specifically alluded to the fact that OS vendors would have to provide this functionality to work around patent issues.
Re:Sounds just like Microsoft (Score:5, Insightful)
It's hard to see anything MS does without some cautious skepticism that they may hold ulterior motives. I personally see two possibilities here:
1) They are trying to keep the FF userbase from building up a critical mass of users watching video with open source/patent free codecs such as WebM
2) They are trying to further marginalize Flash video (since at the moment Flash based video is the only H.264 option for FF users).
These two things arent mutually exclusive either, but I think they make more sense given MS's history and the context. What you said would make more sense if MS released a WebM player for IE/FF. To be clear though, having more options is good and this release isn't necessarily bad, but it's a good idea to keep in mind MS's past gift horses.
Re:Good (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Sounds just like Microsoft (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Good (Score:4, Insightful)
Can I just be clear, here? Are you blaming Microsoft for not also writing support plugins for O/Ss they don't develop?
Yes! There is no telling how deep this issue actually runs in our modern society. I have found some sort of conspiracy whereby I can not procure O.E.M. engine parts for my Chevy pickup at the local Ford dealership! According to Mike Rowe, Ford has the top selling pickup. It should be incumbent on Ford to make sure that people who did not chose Ford products still have all the advantages and or benefits that Ford's paying customers derive from ownership. Also, as soon as a company successfully markets a flying car I expect someone to show up and retrofit all my vehicles!
Damn, I'm out of pills again...
Re:Good (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm not blaming anyone, altough I am somewhat surprised why Microsoft bothers to write Firefox plugins. I'm just saying Microsoft doesn't mind providing a solution that specifically works on Windows and not on any other platform Firefox runs on.
How is it surprising?
MS wants its users to be able to do shit.
MS recognizes many of its users use firefox.
MS wants h.264 video to work for them just as much as they want it to work for IE users.
Re:Good (Score:1, Insightful)
Either you still don't understand or you've been living under a rock for the past year. There are good reasons that Firefox doesn't use the OS-provided codecs, and I'm not going to repeat them YET AGAIN.
Re:Good (Score:3, Insightful)
Because Firefox isn't a good citizen and tries to reinvent shit that the underlying OS already provides, like video codecs. Sorry, but its true - this is not the job of the browser. Or at least it shouldn't be, and in every modern OS and every other modern web-browser, this relationship is very well understood - the OS provides a graphical framework, the applications use it.
And sorry, but Firefox wanting to provide a common experience over multiple OSs is a complete crap excuse. It might as well provide its own clipboard and font renderer then...
Re:Sounds just like Microsoft (Score:2, Insightful)
How about because safari is complete shit?
Re:Good (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes, because it's Apple's hardware. Why should Microsoft support you running Mozilla Firefox on RedHat Linux? They're just looking out for their customers, although in this case it is slightly unexpected.
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