The Pakistani Spectator

With YouTube and other video sites serving up over a billion streams a day, it’s beyond contention that web-based video is not only mainstream, but has become fundamental to the web experience. Why, then, is a huge majority of web video in a wrapped in a proprietary Flash candy coating — essentially making Adobe the gatekeeper of video content? It’s worked okay so far, but it’s hardly a fertile ground for innovation, not to mention the fact that Flash is a real dog on OS X and any kind mobile browser (if it’s even supported).

The next iteration of HTML standards is poised to introduce a <video> standard, putting moving images in the same natively-viewed category as images and text. Flash video has become so ubiquitous that you hardly think about it, but we all get a reminder every few months or so when we have to upgrade or re-install the plug-in, and the continuing difficulties with .flv support offline show that Flash is far from the ideal delivery method for such a (now) basic resource.

Source: Tech Crunch