[M4IF Discuss] Slashdot discussion of Salon article

[Ivan Dimkovic]

MessageDear Jordan, All,
I am not sure if we are talking about same system here, Xvid - www.xvid.org - than I must add small correction, Xvid is also a MPEG-4 simple profile implementation (like DivX 4.xx), and - as such, it is also subject to patent royalties, no matter if it is open source or not - vendor who wishes to use Xvid in commercial application will also have to pay royalties to MPEG-4 patent holders (apart from dealing with GPL licensing behind Xvid project).
Regarding OpenSource and standards, this is a "heavy" subject and it is off-topic, but I must add that some very important ITU/IETF/ISO standards are built as robust OpenSource implementations, like WWW (mozilla as viewer, apache as server) , RTP/RTCP (Cisco reference implementation, RAT, etc...), MP3 decoders (mpg123), MP3 encoders (LAME) - the fact they are open source does not decrease their interoperability with proprietary, closed-source implementations of the same standards. 
I also think that most of the "encoding" engines will (and should) remain closed-source as because many trade-secrets are incorporated in various algorithms.
MP3 also gained popularity because it was the first high quality algorithm that was possible to use on Pentium 90 system - and FhG IIS haven't got enough legal resources to fight unlicensed distributions and cracked versions of their codecs, which turned out to be a very good for MP3 popularity, no matter how crazy it sounds :) At the time "big players" (Microsoft, Real) accepted MP3, it was already widely used by users on the Internet.
Best Regards,
-- Ivan Dimkovic
http://www.psytel-research.co.yu
  From: Jordan Greenhall 
  To: 'Mikael Bourges-Sevenier' ; 'Jeff Handy' ; 'Ben Waggoner' ; discuss   lists.m4if.org 
  Sent: Friday, March 08, 2024 5:46 PM
  Subject: RE: [M4IF Discuss] Slashdot discussion of Salon article
  All - we have to be sure not to drink our own Kool-aid here.  MPEG-4 is a proposed "de jure" international standard that will hopefully ultimately be interoperable.  It is by no means a de facto standard and as we all painfully know, there is a long way to interoperability.  
  Alternatives?  First I'd look at de facto standards - windows media certainly comes to mind.  You don't need interoperability if everyone is using the same software.  Then you can also look at Open Source alternatives - VP3, Xvid.  Again, because anyone can use them, interoperability begins to drop out.  As all of these are completely free, they are quite compelling to content owners.
  For content providers, it is a question of how many people can view (and pay for) their content.  Interoperability is a very small means to this end.  MP3 was a standard for a long time before it was actually used.  MP3 was important when it became a de facto standard and there were lots of people using it.  A big part of the reason this was possible was that the license was actually fair and reasonable and was well designed to promote the technology.
    -----Original Message-----
    From: discuss-admin   lists.m4if.org [mailto:discuss-admin   lists.m4if.org] On Behalf Of Mikael Bourges-Sevenier
    Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2024 9:32 PM
    To: 'Jeff Handy'; 'Ben Waggoner'; discuss   lists.m4if.org
    Subject: RE: [M4IF Discuss] Slashdot discussion of Salon article
    Dear Jeff,
    Yes MPEG-4, like any international standard, is about interoperability. Recently On2 opened its codec, that's proprietary, but the H.26x family of codecs are not proprietary and are international standards. May not be as complete as MPEG-4 but may be enough for your applications, who knows.
    Mike
      -----Original Message-----
      From: Jeff Handy [mailto:jeffh   bisk.com] 
      Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2024 9:17 PM
      To: Mikael Bourges-Sevenier; Ben Waggoner; discuss   lists.m4if.org
      Subject: RE: [M4IF Discuss] Slashdot discussion of Salon article
        ": 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.
        Jeff Handy
        Senior Digital Media Specialist
        Bisk Education, Inc.
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