Now while WMA and WMV are proprietary formats...they cannot be categorized as closed. These formats are available to any company that wants to license them. ------------- Of course. It still doesn't make them open.
Microsoft charges royalties for every WMA/WMV-compatible device manufactured. Microsoft has strict licensing terms that include supporting their transfer protocol (MTP), their DRM, etc.
One company controls the licensing to the benefit of...themselves. One company changes licensing terms to suit...itself. One company turns on the lock-in to benefit...themselves, their OS, their grand plans.
This is all part of proprietary formats; closed formats. They are only open in the sense that the company licenses them to others, for the sole benefit of ... you guessed it - themselves.
Compare to FLAC http://flac.sourceforge.net and Ogg Vorbis http://www.vorbis.com, which are both not only technically superior, but open source and allow free implementations in any device, on any OS whatsoever, without royalty payments (there are no vested interests in promoting the Windows universe). Also artists/producers are free to sell/stream/whatever their content without restriction (or payment to a third party). No matter what the use.
2 systems: one is open, free. The other is closed, proprietary, with grand plans of collecting a toll on every piece of content produced with its tools in the not-too-distant.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
tekdroid @ Nov 6th 2006 1:21PM
Now while WMA and WMV are proprietary formats...they cannot be categorized as closed. These formats are available to any company that wants to license them.
-------------
Of course. It still doesn't make them open.
Microsoft charges royalties for every WMA/WMV-compatible device manufactured.
Microsoft has strict licensing terms that include supporting their transfer protocol (MTP), their DRM, etc.
One company controls the licensing to the benefit of...themselves. One company changes licensing terms to suit...itself. One company turns on the lock-in to benefit...themselves, their OS, their grand plans.
This is all part of proprietary formats; closed formats. They are only open in the sense that the company licenses them to others, for the sole benefit of ... you guessed it - themselves.
Compare to FLAC http://flac.sourceforge.net and Ogg Vorbis http://www.vorbis.com, which are both not only technically superior, but open source and allow free implementations in any device, on any OS whatsoever, without royalty payments (there are no vested interests in promoting the Windows universe). Also artists/producers are free to sell/stream/whatever their content without restriction (or payment to a third party). No matter what the use.
2 systems: one is open, free. The other is closed, proprietary, with grand plans of collecting a toll on every piece of content produced with its tools in the not-too-distant.