A Microsoft spokesperson has weighed in on the latest Apple-Adobe spat by dubbing HTML5 the “future” of the web.
According to IE general manager Dean Hachamovitch, HTML5 will be a “very important” player in advancing rich, interactive web applications and site design.
“The HTML5 specification describes video support without specifying a particular video format. We think H.264 is an excellent format. In its HTML5 support, IE9 will support playback of H.264 video only,” he explained.
“H.264 is an industry standard, with broad and strong hardware support. Because of this standardization, you can easily take what you record on a typical consumer video camera, put it on the web, and have it play in a web browser on any operating system or device with H.264 support (e.g. a PC with Windows 7). For all these reasons, we’re focusing our HTML5 video support on H.264.”
However, Hachamovitch acknowledged that the majority of current Internet videos are “predominantly” Flash-based.
“[Still], while video may be available in other formats, the ease of accessing video using just a browser on a particular website without using Flash is a challenge for typical consumers.
“Flash does have some issues, particularly around reliability, security, and performance. Despite these issues, Flash remains an important part of delivering a good consumer experience on today’s web.”
