Microsoft Is Bringing WebRTC To Explorer, Eyes Plugin-Free Skype Calls

An anonymous reader writes Microsoft today announced it is backing the Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC) technology and will be supporting the ORTC API in Internet Explorer. Put another way, the company is finally throwing its weight behind the broader industry trend of bringing voice and video calling to the browser without the need for plugins. Both Google and Mozilla are way ahead of Microsoft in this area, both in terms of adding WebRTC features to their respective browsers and in terms of building plugin-free calling services that rely on the technology. In short, Skype is under threat, and Microsoft has finally decided to opt for an "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" strategy.

Comments

Wrong strategy

[GameboyRMH]

Microsoft hasn't done "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" in the past. This is more likely another attempt at "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish." So let's wait for the next E to drop.

it's a web browser

[Anonymous Coward]

Can't we just settle for it rendering web pages properly instead of bolting on all sorts of shit ?

Re:If you can't beat 'em, troll them

[ozmanjusri]

ORTC can be seen as a microsoft troll of google,

Not really.

Google is one of the ORTC group members and strongly supports it. If fact, ORTC doesn't erase the work done on WebRTC, it extends it, meaning developers won’t have to rewrite their RTC applications. The expectation is they will gradually transition towards using the ORTC API.

It's possible, though unlikely, that Microsoft's embracing of ORTC now presages their traditional extend/extinguish effort. It's far harder for them to get away with that these days.