Internet Explorer 9 Shuts Out Flash

In an article this morning speaking about what Internet Explorer 9 will, and will not, support, DownloadSquad tells also of how Microsoft will gain tremendously by backing the H.264 codec. Instead of it being some Apple-Microsoft gentleman’s agreement to screw Adobe, it is instead a possible bow to inevitability by Apple, and a nod that Microsoft wishes to be in the driver’s seat on things; or at the very least, a backseat driver with long arms just in case.

Also pondered is whether H.264 or HTML5 will dominate. In my way of thinking, the world will not unite suddenly, and both of these standards, as well as current ones. will all be part of the web. Because that is how it will be, I see Internet Explorer 9 becoming more of a niche browser, and losing all that Microsoft fought so unfairly to win back in the ‘90s.

I realize how that sounds. But so many people only use IE today because they have to, or don’t know any better. That is changing over time, as more and more use something else through the simple emulation of others they see. With the EU browser screen, fewer PCs will have IE as a real working browser on the machine, and the effect will snowball, eventually making IE a browser of last resort.

But let’s see exactly what DownloadSquad has said –

In a bold, blunt and brash announcement that must surely be intended to up-stage Steve Jobs’ open letter to Adobe, the IE9 development team has stated that their new browser will only support H.264. This heralds the death of Ogg’s Theora codec — but OSnews says it better than I ever could.

It also comes hot on the heels of news that Google’s VP8 codec will be open-sourced… though I dare not predict whether IE9 or Google has more clout in the upcoming HTML5 video war.

If such sad news wasn’t big enough, Microsoft (or the IE Blog team) also finishes their blog post with a pot-shot at Adobe. “Flash does have some issues, particularly around reliability, security, and performance.” In other words, the IE9 team consider Flash to be the gimp — the gammy leg — when it comes to crafting a smooth, rich, HTML5 Web. What’s next? Coffee at a sidewalk cafe with Steve Jobs?

For those wondering, Microsoft cites a bunch of weird and unreal reasons for its adoption of H.264 over other HTML5 video codecs. They mention intellectual property rights, open source… but… they don’t mention that Microsoft has a stake in H.264, or that its ‘freeness’ will terminate in 2016. While this will definitely make the Web a lot smoother for the end user, Microsoft will gain a huge amount of control in the process.

With the power of Google, and the draw of open source, where no surprises can be put upon the major projects (browsers of all types), I’m thinking that there is no doubt that the Google solution will be a major player, and no matter the clout of Microsoft, with the ability to guide the web, with inclusion of its choice in the next Windows version, the open source solution will not be forced into the role of minimal player. Google will make the installation of the needed files as easy a download as the original Google pack was for users – no fuss, no bother, and nothing but gain.