Tech’s Biggest Names Unite to Create a New Video Format
THE LIST, WITH a few notable exceptions, is a roster of some of the biggest names in tech: Amazon, Cisco, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Mozilla and Netflix are teaming up to revamp the way video works over the Internet.
The companies have joined together as the Alliance for Open Media to create a new open source video format. The organization includes all three major web browser makers and some of the biggest players in online video (Cisco, don’t forget, makes WebEx, one of the most popular business teleconferencing tools in the world). Apple, which develops its own Safari web browser, and Facebook are conspicuously absent from the group.
The new format, which has yet to be named, could make it easier for web giants to move away from Adobe Flash, which, despite recent calls for its death, has stubbornly endured. It will be designed specifically for delivering streaming video over the web with the aim of making it suitable for low-powered devices. It will also support copy protection, a must for companies like Netflix.
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