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 enough? (Score:5, Interesting)
(Speaking as a Linux user here)
This is probably "good enough" since it will apply enough pressure to get the rest of the userbase covered quickly enough. Competitive forces should drive similar efforts for GStreamer [wikipedia.org] (and perhaps Phonon [wikipedia.org]) and QuickTime (is that the right MacOS framework?) soon enough. The problem comes with the fact that it's almost guaranteed to be a closed application, so there's nothing to build atop except the interface and feature set.
The real question is what Google thinks of this; despite YouTube's H.264 ties, they've been pushing WebM (a simplified Matroska container holding VP8 video and Vorbis audio) in place of FLV (or...?) containing H.264 and MP3 (or AAC?). Google will have to react FAST if they want to push WebM. For the sake of free/open standards in HTML5 video [wikipedia.org], specifically to prevent license/royalty issues with proprietary codecs to let the little guys compete, I'm rooting for Google.
So when I say "good enough," I'm referring to what it might kick-start rather than the more immediate effects. Things should start to get interesting.
Re:Good (Score:2, Interesting)
Application provided codecs make as much sense as Application provided printer, sound, and graphics drivers.
Oh yeah? Tell that to the VLC [videolan.org] developers.
It is all about code reuse and flexibility. And yes there was a time when each application did provide printer, sound, and graphics drivers. And by going with OS based codec support adding newer and better codecs will be a simple matter of adding the support to the OS. Just like printers, graphics, and sound are today.
This is true... until you stop seeing the web browser as just another Application. Google are slowly turning the browser into the OS, and Microsoft is coming around to that way of thinking.
For many people, home users and business users, the web browser is probably the #1 app on their machines. They use it for e-mail, they use it for Facebook, they use it for sharing photos, they use it for shopping and gaming and booking tickets and a million other things. It's loaded when they log on and only unloaded when they shut down. It's their reason for owning a computer, and it's entertainment, communication and productivity rolled into one.
IMHO, the truth is ChromeOS has Microsoft scared. They know that the "browser as OS" paradigm isn't going to take hold next year when the hardware hits, but glance 10 years down the road and things look a lot murkier. Suddenly, building functionality into the browser itself doesn't look so crazy, because the browser could be conceivably be performing all the functions we currently expect from the native OS, while combining the advantages of cloud and local computing.
This plugin is simply Microsoft creating as many disincentives to Chrome adoption as possible. If improving a competitor's product gives them an overall advantage, that's what they'll do.