[theora] <video src="*.ogg">

[Remco]

On Thu, Jan 14, 2010 at 19:38, Gregory Maxwell <gmaxwell at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 14, 2010 at 1:06 PM, Michael A. Peters <mpeters at mac.com> wrote:
>> The mime issue seems to be covered by others here.
>> I would recommend, if you can, also making an h.264 encoded version of
>> the file for two reasons:
>
> Speaking personally, I don't think this is an appropriate list to
> advocate patent encumbered formats.
>
> If someone is feels obligated, for reach reasons, to distribute in an
> encumbered format then offering a free format does little good, since
> you're still saddled with whatever future distribution costs exist.
>
> Thus we stay trapped in a cycle where content distributors do not
> adopt free formats because they can't reduce cost without losing
> reach, thus client developers and users do not adopt because they
> can't reduce cost without losing compatibility, this distributors…
>
> The only way to break this cycle is to encourage clients run
> appropriate software.
>
> Fortunately flash itself proves that massive adoption through manual
> client installs is possible.
>
>> Yes, you can use cortado as a fallback to play .ogv content, but many
>> users do not have Java installed and to be honest,
>
> FWIW, practically every Safari user has Java installed. (Like Flash,
> the JVM is now out of the box on macs).
>
> The exact Java concentration depends on your audience.
>
>> Java really is not
>> the best tool for the job. Hopefully basic ogg vorbis/theora comes to
>> flash soon.
>
> I don't think anyone is anticipating formal support from Adobe in the
> flash binary distribution. So, about the best we could expect is a
> flash-vm implementation.
>
> A flash-vm implementation would suffer from many of the same
> limitations as the Java version (including prolonged load times), and
> would additionally require a very current flash instillation.
>
> I very much hope to see vorbis/theora implemented for flash vm, but no
> one is currently working on it.  Once it exists I am doubtful that it
> will work as well as cortado does for many years, if ever.

I've been looking for something to do as my first free software
project. I'm interested in extending the FOgg project to also decode
Theora (by porting the Cortado stuff to hAxe). I'm just a computer
science student, so it might be beyond my abilities right now. At
least it's worth a try.

While Flash is a closed off environment, which is something I
generally disagree with, I think strategically in this case it might
actually help the cause of free software. Flash is Theora's main
competitor for now, and a Flash-based fallback would put Theora on the
same level of platform support. The Java browser plugin (which you'll
be serving some 70% [1] of your visitors for now) is problematic from
a usability point of view.

-- 
Remco

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