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

"Plugin-Free"

[sexconker]

I'd rather have to deal with plugins than deal with the feature creep, bloat, and widened attack surface you get from shoehorning all this shit into the browser.
With plugins, you get the best, fastest, and most secure experience. (By not installing the plugins.)

I DON'T want my browser to support fucking Skype calls on the web, encourage shitty web-design trends that sacrifice usability in favor of a hip image, support shitty DRM over HTML, etc.
The merits of any individual feature, as well as the shitty design choices of any give site, are beside the point. Baking all this shit into the browser removes my choice, shifts development focus away from performance, security, and enhancement of core features, steals my megahertz and megabytes, etc.

Anyone know a browser that's just a WEB browser?

[Anonymous Coward]

It's becoming annoying to have to disable so many features I don't want, never knowing if I got them all. Just a web browser, please. HTML, CSS, maybe Javascript. Doesn't need persistent anything (history, cookies, storage, etc.).