By Michelle Meyers, 1 June 2006 09:20
NEWS
The world is ready for a new photo compression format to rival the ubiquitous JPEG, according to readers of silicon.com sister site CNET News.com.
But they're not so sure it should be a Microsoft product such as the new Windows Media Photo format, which promises better quality images at half the size of JPEG files.
In a poll asking whether a JPEG competitor is needed, almost half of the 5,621 voters expressed interest in a new format but voiced concern "about it being a Microsoft product".
About 20 per cent said yes, "email and web pages need smaller files", while about 30 per cent voted no, "JPEG works just fine".
The poll was in response to a story on the demonstration of Windows Media Photo last week at the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference. The compression technology will be supported in Windows Vista and made available for Windows XP.
The 135 reader comments on the story seemed to mirror the poll results. Many agreed that new technology is a good thing but can't get beyond its maker.
One reader wrote: "In the case of Microsoft, the concern must be, given Microsoft's abusive track record, pre-eminently the 'who,' and not the how or what of a proposed technology. Anyone who understands the usefulness of innovations such as the web and the internet must be wary of any proposed Microsoft 'standard'."
Reader Peter Simpson added that no matter what the benefits of Windows Media Photo are, he's concerned about Redmond's "strong affinity for proprietary formats encumbered by Digital Restrictions Management".
He wrote: "I'm concerned that, sometime in the future, Microsoft may hold my photos for ransom, requiring that I purchase an upgrade to view them. Or, even worse, that Microsoft may drop support for the format; and since it's proprietary, there wouldn't be any other viewers available."
A reader who went by the name 'JohnUSA', said he'll only use the new format if it's proven without any doubt to be superior to JPEG, if it's completely free, forever, and if it's "without any strings or conditions or any **** that Microsoft may throw at its users". He added: "Simply put, I never, never trust Microsoft."
But another reader said it's time naysayers stop focusing on "nonsense argumentative junk such as the 'evil' Microsoft monopolies, 'open source is better' crap and lame positions that other alternatives exists so why bother".
The reader wrote: "Let's be sober here in saying that anybody arguing that this isn't going to be a new standard, must be disillusioned. It will be a standard simply because Microsoft is going to have all its operating systems (XP and on) support it. Moreover and more importantly, Internet Explorer will support it (which is the undeniable king of the browsers when it comes to market penetration)."
Michelle Meyers writes for CNET News.com
Comments
There are 7 comments. Join the discussion
1. Philip Kearns
There is already a format superior to JPEG, but for some reason no one is using it, it's called JPEG2000. I am frankly furious at the idea of MS taking yet another standard and 'embracing and extending it'.
2. Tim Jackson
If Microsoft launch a new proprietary format which is a major improvement on JPEG, then the need will appear for a comparable standard for the non-Microsoft community, whether or not that need is perceived now.
It is inevitable that if the new format is restricted to purchasers of new Microsoft products, that the open source community will respond with a free version, which, being later, will probably be better, and which will make the Microsoft product an evolutionary dead-end.
What a turn up for the books - Microsoft leading innovation!
3. Graham Coles
Perhaps we should be asking why microsoft always thinks there is the need for a new standard, but whenever one comes out their software doesn't support it.
Do they support H.264 (mpeg 4 part 10) the Industry standard for video (or even standard mpeg 4 formats)? Have they even heard of OGG?
We already have JPEG2000 and formats like PNG (curiously another format Microsoft didn't appear to want to support).
Even with the whole world using PDF for document interchange, Microsoft seem to shun their paying customers by refusing to add support for saving as a pdf in MS Office because they want to introduce their own variant called "Microsoft e-paper" ...
Perhaps there is a reason why people don't like or trust Microsoft - they ignore all other standards but the ones they invent themselves.
I don't know who's worse, Microsoft or Sony (for inventing yet another memory card standard - twice!)
Competition may be good in general, but all of this standard re-inventing seems to offer no real improvement on what already esists and is little more than a pathetic branding war. It does nothing for interoperability and just causes more compatibility issues than we already have.
Good for Microsoft and Sony profits, but the rest of us end up dealing with all the crap.
4. David Fletcher
I think this is a sign of a company in decline.
Microsoft is, in my opinion, becoming more frightened by open source software with every passing day. It feels that the only way to maintain market share is to use Bully Boy tactics to try to force computer users to continue to pay tribute to them.
The only way to defeat a bully is to fight back, and for this reason I loudly applaud the ISO for the ratification of the Open Document Format.
What I really detest is statements that imply that a file format is a standard just because microsoft has invented it. It's not a standard - it's a proprietary format specifically designed to lock computer users into paying fees for future upgrades to microsoft.
What's needed is greater public awareness of what is freely available, such as the png format, a lossless graphic file format that is free for all to use, and is implemented in Paint Shop Pro, the GIMP, and many others I suspect.
If I was to walk down any street and ask shoppers if they had heard of the microsoft word format I bet 90% of people would know about it. Unfortunately I reckon hardly anybody would know about the Open Document Format. That's a big problem, for both economic and freedom reasons, for everybody.
5. Dimitri
JPEG is a ubiquitous format, compatible with digital cameras, camcorders, all operating systesm (since its an open standard) and all kinds of mobile devices et al. In order for a new format to to become prevalent it needs to be equaly standard, ubiquitous and universally supported. This new MS efforts smacks of WMA. How succesful was that against mp3? It is nothing to do with open source, its a question of an open standard.
6. Don Tregartha
Microsoft haven't got a particularly good record in this area, compare Windows media player files to Quicktime. Of course if you are running vanilla windows, you can't see quicktime. Maybe that's the idea here to lock users into the new format and Vista.
7. Simon
If Microsoft were to make the specification public, with an irrevokable right to use the format free of any licence or costs, an irrevokable right to create/use other programs that use the format; and if those rights extend to all future versions of the standard; then, and only then, would I consider using it.
If there is any possibility whatsoever for Microsoft to control who can use files in that format, what programs they can use to work with them, what they can run the programs on, or what they can do with the file ... if there is any possibility of any of these then I simply will not have anything whatsoever to do with the format.
This isn't just Microsoft bashing, other than them being the only organisation with anough clout to think they can force a closed format on the world - no-one else would even think about trying it on.
For the same reason I refuse to buy from the iTunes store. I want to have my files in a format so that I can chose what to do with them, when, and where. I'm grown up enough not to rip off peoples music (I buy the CDs) or software, in return I expect to have some common sense rights/capabilities in return.
Would MS make something as open and free as many of us would like ? Hmm, are those pigs flying past the office window ?