Halloween Documents explained part 1 - de-commoditize protocols
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| First of all, everyone interested in the well being of the free world and the
| existence of competition in the software market should be able to recognize
| such strategies employed by companies wanting to create vendor lock-in traps.
| Second of all there are several other efforts at the time being going on
| which tries to accomplish the same thing in other arenas. One such example is
| XAML and Silverlight which effectively tries to de-commoditize the markup
| languages we are using today on the web. The fact that the HTML have been a
| commodity product have been the very back-bone of the success of the internet
| as we know it today. If HTML is replaced by XAML or other proprietary
| technologies, the free world on the internet as we know it today will be the
| victim.
|
| [...]
|
| Standardized protocols and languages are the best way to ensure
| commoditization of the very fabric of society. Use standard based software
| and protocols where possible. Say no to proprietary new and improved versions
| of existing standards. Use JavaScript instead of Silverlight, use HTML
| instead of XAML, choose tools that obeys to the standards as much as possible
| instead of those that tries to create "new and improved" versions. Choose
| Free Software where possible and least of all; do not fall for Embrace,
| Extend and Extinguish strategies.
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http://ajaxwidgets.com/Blogs/thomas/halloween_documents_explained_.bb
Ogg Theora+Vorbis as default for <video> scuttled in HTML5 spec. Who benefits?
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| Ian Hickson, speaking for the HTML5 working group, recently announced that he
| removed the suggested Ogg Theora+Vorbis language from the HTML5
| specification. The replacement language says that there should be
| unencumbered common audio and video formats in HTML but it doesn’t suggest
| any specific means of accomplishing that.
|
| How did this situation come to pass? What happened between the time this spec
| was drafted and now? Corporate influence, in a nutshell. Apple and Nokia’s
| complaints have found an ear with those working on HTML specs.
|
| What can you do to stop this? Raise the issue far and wide with everyone,
| even non-technical computer users. It’s time that these issues no longer live
| exclusively in the realm where only geeks tread.
|
| Apple and Nokia never liked the language supporting Ogg Vorbis+Theora codecs.
| Nokia lied by claiming Ogg Vorbis and Theora were “proprietary”. What Nokia
| probably meant is that the evolution of the Vorbis and Theora codecs were not
| under the control of a corporate board which Nokia could become a member (and
| thus have a hand in controlling how Theora and Vorbis improve). Ogg
| Theora+Vorbis specifications are available for anyone to use for any purpose.
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http://www.digitalcitizen.info/2007/12/30/ogg-theoravorbis-as-default-for-video-scuttled-in-html5-spec-who-benefits/
Nokia, Microsoft and Apple to the rescue of video DRM.
Related:
Silverlight is about The Microsoft Web.
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| Sorry, but I have to say something very rude. You clearly don't know
| what you're talking about. That is Microsoft PR talking. Can you say
| "credibility loss".
|
| Silverlight is about The Microsoft Web
|
| Silverlight is not about the World Wide Web. It's about The Microsoft
| Web. It's about getting fools to rally around Microsoft. After all of
| this time and experience with Microsoft, anybody with half a brain
| will be smart enough to avoid doing that. The last thing you want to
| be is dependent on Microsoft and set yourself up to be a DIRECT
| competitor with "Microsoft Cloud Services" down the road. Dumb.
| Foolish. Stupid. Smart investors won't invest one dime in your
| company and might even short your stock.
|
| Remember, it's Microsoft's cloud. Microsoft is not investing in
| huge datacenters all around the world for no reason. And, Microsoft
| will do whatever it takes, including operating that new online
| services business at a huge loss, to starve off any smaller
| competitor that foolishly chose to develop on the Silverlight
| platform. Microsoft sold $44 BILLION and cleared $18 BILLION
| profit last year. How many billions did you make last year?
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http://talkback.zdnet.com/5208-11406-0.html?forumID=1&threadID=33334&messageID=613757
Microsoft's Silverlight Promises to Disrupt Linux Web Users
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| Just as it seemed that Linux users (especially 64-bit users) would
| finally be able to enjoy streaming content with a minimum of
| hassle, Microsoft's new Silverlight software promises to throw a
| wrench in the works. Because of sites like Google Video and
| Youtube, Flash video has become a common means of streaming
| multimedia over the Internet.
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http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry1418.html
Microsoft's 'Everywhere' excludes Linux
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| This browser add-on enables rendering of WPF content, but
| "Everywhere" doesn't include Linux.
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http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/7794/53/
ECIS Accuses Microsoft of Plotting HTML Hijack
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| An industry coalition that has represented competitors of Microsoft
| in European markets before the European Commission stepped up its
| public relations offensive this morning, this time accusing
| Microsoft of scheming to upset HTML's place in the fabric of
| the Internet with XAML, an XML-based layout lexicon forn
| etwork applications.
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http://www.betanews.com/article/ECIS_Accuses_Microsoft_of_Plotting_HTML_Hijack/1169824569
Software rivals say Microsoft's Vista illegal in Europe (at CNNMoney.com)
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| Software manufacturers, citing 2004 European Commission finding,
| contend the operating system violates server laws in Europe.
|
| [...]
|
| "Vista is the first step of Microsoft's strategy to extend its market
| dominance to the Internet," the ECIS statement said.
|
| It said Microsoft's XAML markup language was "positioned to replace HTML,"
| the industry standard for publishing documents on the Internet.
|
| Microsoft's own language would be dependent on Windows, and discriminatory
| against rival systems such as Linux, the group says.
|
| They said a so-called "open XML" platform file format, known as OOXML, is
| designed to run seamlessly only on the Microsoft Office platform.
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http://money.cnn.com/2007/01/26/news/international/bc.vista.microsoft.eu.reut/index.htm?source=yahoo_quote
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| From: Bill Gates
| Sent: Saturday, December 05, 1998 9:44 AM
| To: Bob Muglia (Exchange); Jon DeVaan; Steven Sinofsky
| Cc: Paul Mariz
| Subject: Office rendering
|
| One thing we have got to change is our strategy -- allowing Office
| documents to be rendered very well by OTHER PEOPLES BROWSERS is one of the
| most destructive things we could do to the company.
|
| We have to stop putting any effort into this and make sure that Office
| documents very well depends on PROPRIETARY IE capabilities.
|
| Anything else is suicide for our platform. This is a case where Office has
| to to destroy Windows.
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http://antitrust.slated.org/www.iowaconsumercase.org/011607/2000/PX02991.pdf
Removal of Ogg Vorbis and Theora from HTML5: an outrageous disaster
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| Note that HTML5 in no way required Ogg (as denoted by the word “should”
| instead of “must” in the earlier draft). Adding this to the fact that there
| are widely available patent-free implementations of Ogg technology, there is
| really no excuse for Apple and Nokia to say that they couldn’t in good faith
| implement HTML5 as previously formulated. Throw your own theory here: DRM,
| proprietary control, et cetera.
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http://rudd-o.com/archives/2007/12/11/removal-of-ogg-vorbis-and-theora-from-html5-an-outrageous-disaster/
http://tinyurl.com/yp5zm6
Is Nokia Looking for Revenue in the Wrong Places?
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| He proposed that iPod and iTunes was an exception, and would be eclipsed by a
| Nokia/Microsoft (MSFT) partnership in short order.
|
| [...]
|
| That conversation echoes the one that nearly every music player manufacturer
| on the planet has had to date. And Microsoft's DRM and poor business
| decisions has managed to undermine the business of every single one of them,
| especially now that Microsoft's Zune competes with them and yet isn't
| compatible with Microsoft's own PlaysForSure music software.
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http://seekingalpha.com/article/56822-is-nokia-looking-for-revenue-in-the-wrong-places?source=yahoo
Nokia to W3C: Ogg is proprietary, we need DRM on the Web
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| But remember, that's not what Nokia is objecting to: they are arguing that
| Ogg is proprietary (it isn't) and that DRM should be part of a Web standard
| (it shouldn't).
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http://www.boingboing.net/2007/12/09/nokia-to-w3c-ogg-is.html
Nokia to put Microsoft PlayReady onto S60 & S40 cellphone platforms
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| Nokia is to support Microsoft's PlayReady content access technology into the
| Nokia S60 and Series 40 mobile device platforms, starting in 2008.
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http://www.itwire.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13884&Itemid=1055
Mozilla, Opera look to make video on the Web easier
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| Firefox and Opera will support a new HTML tag specifically for embedding
| video in Web pages. As long as the browsers support a video's specific codec,
| or encoding method, the browsers will then be able to play the video without
| launching third-party enabling software, said Chris Double, a Mozilla
| engineer. Mozilla and Opera are also working to support the royalty-free
| video codec Ogg Theora.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/infoworld/20071207/tc_infoworld/93898
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