Re: [Fsfe-uk] BBC's DRM Iplayer windows only

[Alex Hudson]

On Mon, 2008-01-07 at 12:18 +0000, Jon Grant wrote:
> The FSF plan is to solely support Flash, that is a flawed plan IMHO,
> just like solely supporting MS-Word file format would be. Instead they
> should develop a multimedia standard for audio/video/vector graphics
> and scripting which is better, and include backwards compatible
> support for Flash files as an option to assist in the migration to an
> open standard.

Actually, I think the format is mostly inconsequential.

The problem isn't that Flash has become a de facto standard, it's that
the Flash content tools are ubiquitous and there is no competition
(Microsoft's SilverLight developments notwithstanding).

It's very easy to come up with a new standard, or some kind of SVG
profile, or whatever. It's not that hard to write a player for that
standard. It's tough to get people to use the standard when there are
basically bugger-all applications out there which create the content.

I don't see Flash MX / Studio / nom-de-jure supporting a non-Flash
format any time soon, and I don't see designers and content producers
moving to a different application any time soon either.

Cheers,

Alex.