The other workweek , we explained howApple shape a ton of whatgoes on in tech by shaping industry - broad standards . This week , we ’re gon na bet at Microsoft , and what ’s it ’s done with standard .
https://gizmodo.com/giz-explains-why-tech-standards-are-vital-for-apple-a-5350976
Microsoft obviously has a more complicated human relationship with “ industry ” measure , because anything it decides is its monetary standard — even proprietary one — becomes a form of de facto standard for everybody else , simply because of Microsoft ’s overwhelming marketshare . This was more true in the past than today , with Microsoft playing musket ball with everybody else more often .
Microsoft ’s AV Club
Let ’s start with Windows Media Audio — most commonly , it ’s known as Microsoft ’s proprietary audio codec that at one point struggle the good fight against MP3 , but is now much more , having growninto a sprawling familyof various codecs with multiple versions . To name a few of the current ones , there ’s WMA 9 , WMA 9 Lossless and WMA 10 Pro . Microsoft enjoin it offers superscript quality / compression over MP3 , with “ standard candle quality at data rate from 64 to 192 kilobits per second . ” gratuitous to say , while it ’s broil into Windows Media Player for ripping CDs and is supported by a fairly full range of PMPs and phones , it plainly never dismiss MP3 , nor is it ascendant as the “ young ” standard like AAC ( the prescribed heir of MP3 ) , essentially since it is n’t supported by the iPod , which have over 70 percent of the MP3 player securities industry . WMA Pro , despite being an even better codec than WMA , hasmore modified support still , mostly with Microsoft ’s own hardware , like the Xbox 360 and Zune .
WMA ’s more ignoble bequest , doubtless , is PlaysForSure , Microsoft ’s elevated attack to standardise the entire digital music industry ( except Apple , or rather , against Apple ) by bugger off everybody on the same page . PlaysForSure was technically a certification for players and military service with a variety of requisite , but support for WMA , WMV andWindows Media DRMis what it amounted to in practice . Microsoft succeeded , for a time : Pretty much every PMP Almighty and services from Walmart , Rhapsody , MSN Music , Yahoo , Napster and others were all aboard PlaysForSure . Then it imploded . As every real medicine service went to DRM - free MP3 , Microsoft re - branded it toCertified for Windows Vista . Which , incidentally , was a badge they slapped on the Zune , Microsoft ’s own audio participant that did n’t actually support PlaysForSure . When Microsoft ditched its own standard for its premiere player , everybody knew PlaysForSure was dead .
https://gizmodo.com/giz-explains-everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-drm-5112007
Windows Media has been more successful on the video recording front , with WMV . Like WMA , it ’s live through multiple reading : At one point ( WMV 7 ) just Microsoft ’s take on the MPEG-2 criterion , Microsoft in reality succeeded in making it a literal industry standard , withWMV 9 becoming the basis for the VC-1 codecthat ’s backed by the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers . VC-1 is part of the specification for both HD videodisc and Blu - ray , though at this point it ’s really just an alternative to H.264 , which is becoming the dominant mod video codec . WMV saw some achiever as the codec of choice for some service during the heyday or PlaysForSure ( since WMV financial backing was part of the credentials ) , but now it sees a quite a little of action as the video codec for Silverlight , Microsoft ’s Adobe Flash competitor .
Internet Exploder
Silverlight itself actually is n’t doing so bad , consider it ’s fight down Flash , which is installed onthe huge legal age of internet - connect data processor , power Netflix ’s cyclosis service and last summer , NBC ’s stream Olympics coverage . But like Flash , it ’s proprietary , which is obviously a act untune for people who want an undetermined entanglement . Which brings us to net Explorer . The other history of IE and Netscape is grossly complicated , but suffice it to say , being include with Windows finally gave IE over 90 percent of web internet browser marketshare . In other parole , Microsoft set how an overwhelming majority of hoi polloi looked at the internet for years — meaning it essentially defined what the internet look like . Microsoft essentially stopped moving forward with IE6 , sitting on its Eastern Samoa for days , which is a problem since it ’s totally non - compliant with what most people would call New WWW standards . ( Short variant : Web developer detest IE6 . ) With IE8 , which introduce a raw world with Firefox having devour a huge chunk of its marketshare , Microsoft support literal literal World Wide Web standard ( mostly — it still go the Acid3 test miserably ) . And , they ’re actuallyserious about HTML5 , even though they ’re not design to implement thecontroversial TV panorama at all .
Do You hope Me ?
apparently , Microsoft ’s in an leftover topographic point in part because the unceasing specter of antimonopoly allegation hang over its promontory — it ’s had to de - couple Internet Explorer from Windows in Europe , and it ’s moved to separate other hooey from the essence atomic number 76 , like even its chain armor , video and photo applications , making it harder to achieve the kind of de facto criterion through cobwebby force of food market like before .
Which might be part of the rationality it ’s moving to make technical school legit manufacture standards — besides VC-1 above , for instance , its HD Photo has become the footing for the replacement to JPEG , now dubbedJPEG XR . Also , it ’s simply that criterion count more now than ever as people do more and more of their computation on the web , on multiple platform from Windows desktop to Android phones , so industriousness - blanket standard are way preferable to proprietary data formatting , even if most mass still are on Windows .
Increasingly , if Microsoft wants people to use their technical school , they ’re going to have to open it up in the same quasi - way Apple has ( it ’ll also go a tenacious direction with the whole trustingness / ascendancy issues people have with Microsoft ) . So do n’t surprised if you see Microsoft continue to “ open up ” and “ standardize . ” Just do n’t be surprised if the monetary standard they comprehend have Microsoft tech at the core .
Still something you wanna know ? direct interrogative sentence about standard , things that are open other than your mom ’s legs or Steve Ballmer ’s deodorant to[email protected ] , with “ Giz Explains ” in the dependent ancestry .
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