On Mon, 22 Jul 2002, at 3:50pm, Rich C wrote: > Of course this implies only that RealNetworks can supply streaming data in > Microsoft's format. If they can do this, you have to assume they can > decode it as well.
Well, yes and no. The streaming transport is typically separate from the actual media encoder/decoder. So, as long as you have the Windows Media file on the server, you could (in theory) stream it to a Windows Media Player, without knowing how to decode the actual media content. Kinda like how you can serve up Microsoft Excel files via Apache, even though you cannot get MS Excel for Linux [1]. > They ARE very interesting to me. The MPEG moreso than Ogg Vorbis right > now, as my target audiences are not that computer savvy. Almost no one in > my audience has an Ogg Vorbis-capable player, or even knows what it is, > but they have all heard of RealNetworks. Right. I expect Ogg to succeed much the way Linux did: Slowly, and by stealth. Open Source never dies, and with implementation cost being near zero, it tends to build up a large installed base just by existing. That does mean "home users" tend to be late adopters, of course. > It would be ironic if RealNetworks conquers these markets first, and the > Media Cartel runs to Microsoft, who can't distribute their content to any > of these devices. :-) It would be ironic indeed. Alas, as others have observed, fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony. :-/ -- Ben Scott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> | The opinions expressed in this message are those of the author and do not | | necessarily represent the views or policy of any other person, entity or | | organization. All information is provided without warranty of any kind. | ***************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the text 'unsubscribe gnhlug' in the message body. *****************************************************************
