Tim, what disturbs people about a former MS executive in that position is that Microsoft's interests are not at all aligned with the interests of a public broadcaster. Microsoft wants video format lockin, which is why to this day Windows Media Player has no support for MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 and AAC (Xbox excluded), the Xiph Ogg codecs, or even Dirac for that matter whose bitstream has been frozen for SMPTE VC-2. Microsoft chooses not to license Windows Media 9 format for implementation in GNU/Linux. Their DRM architecture is Microsoft-only, just like the Apple FairPlay AVC/AAC extension is Apple-only.
If Mr. Huggers had worked for, say, a bank, nobody would care. But he had an active role at Microsoft promoting a closed, proprietary format at the expense of open formats. Anyone using a non-Microsoft system knows that only open standards guarantee interoperability and given Microsoft's shoddy record on open standards, concerns are justified. Probably the best thing he could do to allay those concerns would be to support open standards. It's a mystery to me why the BBC doesn't make available a Dirac codec installer for WMP. I have no doubt the browsers and mobile manufacturers would line up for Dirac given its patent-unencumbered status. Did you see Sun announcing the reinvention of the wheel last week, a patent-unencumbered video codec? Sean. - Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. Unofficial list archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk/
