If Real maintains the larger installed base, media companies will continue publishing to the Real format, even if they also publish to the MS format. As long as MS supports one or two platforms, they are stuck in a fancy second place. Some media may be exclusively in their format, but most will cover both formats. It is useful to cover MS's format because its player is widely available with its OS, and this does provide a "catch-all" for viewers. But if they fail to reach the Linux platform, for example, their audience will be smaller, and media publishers know this (and sometimes this alone). If India, for example, adopts Linux, as another Slashdot article discusses, Real will have a very large advantage and MS would probably be forced to provide a Linux player. I hope the days of One Platform determining the standard are done.
"We're living in a dictatorship...... A self-perpetuating autocracy in which the working class of coders and average lowly geeks are exploited to serve the purpose of the upper class slime."
You may work for whomever you wish, even yourself. There are structures to much commercial code production, but their are counter-structures, as well. The code doesn't care. If a geek is lowly he gets what he deserves, which is a great deal more, generally, than other people in our society.
Slashdot Mirror
If Real maintains the larger installed base, media companies will continue publishing to the Real format, even if they also publish to the MS format. As long as MS supports one or two platforms, they are stuck in a fancy second place. Some media may be exclusively in their format, but most will cover both formats. It is useful to cover MS's format because its player is widely available with its OS, and this does provide a "catch-all" for viewers. But if they fail to reach the Linux platform, for example, their audience will be smaller, and media publishers know this (and sometimes this alone). If India, for example, adopts Linux, as another Slashdot article discusses, Real will have a very large advantage and MS would probably be forced to provide a Linux player. I hope the days of One Platform determining the standard are done.
"We're living in a dictatorship. ..... A self-perpetuating autocracy in which the working class of coders and average lowly geeks are exploited to serve the purpose of the upper class slime."
You may work for whomever you wish, even yourself. There are structures to much commercial code production, but their are counter-structures, as well. The code doesn't care. If a geek is lowly he gets what he deserves, which is a great deal more, generally, than other people in our society.
John