Apple’s stance on Adobe Flash is already well-known, after CEO Steve Jobs publicly defended the reasons why it’s not available on the iPad and iPhone. But after being lauded for bashing Flash as a closed technology, Jobs has allegedly pointed out that Apple’s not necessarily throwing in with open source Web video just yet.
Instead, an e-mail claimed to be from Jobs indicates that he feels open source video codecs like Theora may be facing some big problems — ensuring that Apple will be most likely embracing the proprietary H.264 standard.
And joining Apple is none other than its longtime “frenemy” Microsoft. Datamation takes a look.
Is Steve Jobs at it again? Just days after reaffirming Apple’s decision to ban Adobe’s Flash from the iPhone, the company’s CEO is reportedly pointing the finger at another multimedia technology he sees struggling with major shortcomings — echoing similar comments, as it turns out, from Apple’s longtime archrival, Microsoft.
Hugo Roy, the French coordinator of Free Software Foundation Europe, said he had sent Jobs an e-mail partly to applaud Apple’s commitment to Web standards that Jobs had outlined in his Thoughts on Flash essay. But according to Roy, a prominent European open source advocate, Jobs responded specifically to another part of the e-mail, where Roy had suggested Apple should support open source video codec (coder/decoder) formats like Theora instead of H.264, which requires licensing fees.