Apple recently started a war of words with Adobe over the use of Flash on the Internet. Microsoft has chimed in with their opinion, and while they did not explictly state so, they seem to agree with Apple about HTML5 and H.264.
The future of the web is HTML5. Microsoft is deeply engaged in the HTML5 process with the W3C. HTML5 will be very important in advancing rich, interactive web applications and site design. The HTML5 specification describes video support without specifying a particular video format. We think H.264 is an excellent format. In its HTML5 support, IE9 will support playback of H.264 video only, writes Dean Hachamovitch. H.264 is an industry standard, with broad and strong hardware support. Because of this standardization, you can easily take what you record on a typical consumer video camera, put it on the web, and have it play in a web browser on any operating system or device with H.264 support (e.g. a PC with Windows 7). Recently, we publicly showed IE9 playing H.264-encoded video from YouTube.
Flash currently has deep penetration in the web, and Microsoft acknowledged its continued support of Flash, but it almost feels like that support for Adobe’s system comes with a ‘for now’ clause so long as so many issues persist.
Today, video on the web is predominantly Flash-based. While video may be available in other formats, the ease of accessing video using just a browser on a particular website without using Flash is a challenge for typical consumers. Flash does have some issues, particularly around reliability, security, and performance. We work closely with engineers at Adobe, sharing information about the issues we know of in ongoing technical discussions. Despite these issues, Flash remains an important part of delivering a good consumer experience on today s web.”
Source: IEBlog
