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The Smart Techie was renamed Siliconindia India Edition starting Feb 2012 to continue the nearly two decade track record of excellence of our US edition.

July - 2009 - issue > Tech Tracker

HTML5 – A Step to Free the Web from Plugins

Eureka Bharali
Friday, July 3, 2009
Eureka Bharali
The standardization of the vendor neutral language HTML5, a revised version of the World Wide Web’s HTML, will delimit Rich Internet Applications (RIA) providers like Adobe, Microsoft, and Sun. The new version will enforce open standards on multimedia applications.

The specifications for HTML5 include capabilities to draw two dimensional graphics and the ability to control audio and video content. Currently, a video file is either a Flash video (FV) or H.264 (a standard for video compression), both of which can easily be played by common video player software. The browsers are not yet equipped to display video on their own due to the lack of a standard video format. Companies like Adobe, Microsoft, and the new entrant Sun have placed their bet on this standard format gap through their platforms that provide plugins to access the videos. However, any one who does not use Flash or Silverlight will find it difficult to access the content. The HTML5 video element will be a death knell for these RIA providers as the browsers would prefer to break free from the constraints imposed by proprietary browser plugins.

The impact of the revision on HTML out-lined by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), a conglomerate of browser vendors, will come to full force by the end of this year. Google has already adapted to a YouTube mockup built with HTML5 and the new version has also found a place in Internet Explorer 8 and Mozilla 3.5. Video content providers like YouTube and Daily Motion are also in the pursuit of opportunities to use the new HTML version. The shift could cause a huge dent in the market share of Flash that dominates the market with 81 percent share and its rival Silverlight, which enjoys 16 percent market share. Being a part of W3C, Adobe was one of the leading organizations to boost HTML5. However, to combat the threat from HTML5, the company has unveiled no-cost licensing of Flash for mobile and embedded devices.

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