[M4IF Discuss] Slashdot discussion of Salon article

[Craig Birkmaier]

At 12:16 AM -0500 3/8/02, Jeff Handy wrote:
>	": if people look at alternatives, there might not even be need
>for licensing terms and MPEG-LA. "
>
>
>
>	I'd like to know what alternatives you are talking about.
>MPEG-4 is about, above all, interoperability.  What truly interoperable
>alternatives are there?  AFAIK, everything else is a proprietary
>solution.  IMO, THIS point is what they don't get.
>

I am not promoting Apple's proprietary QuickTime solution, but it is 
an extensible architecture with a proven track record of being able 
to plug-in new technologies as they evolve, AND it provides a level 
of proven cross-platform media player and web-browser 
interoperability that is yet to be demonstrated for MPEG-4.
Despite the historic track record, Apple would like to support MPEG-4 
because it is a standard, which they can plug-intoQuickTime. Given 
the fact that QuickTime already supports many of the advanced 
features of MPEG-4, I would suggest that the marketplace may provide 
alternatives, even IF they are "proprietary."
-- 
Regards
Craig Birkmaier
Pcube Labs