| Tuesday, July 16, 2002 |
12:31 - This is getting pretty nasty.
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-943861.html
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First there was MacWorld New York, the week-long conference with Steve Jobs' keynote right in the middle of it, where everybody expects him to demo all the kickass new stuff in Jaguar, as well as 17" iMacs and updated laptops and a new POWER4-based Mac line, or possibly just the momentous name-change of the iTools services to ".Mac".
Then there was this ZDNet article, covering what appears to be Microsoft's sturm-and-drang of new product announcements (well, nine-months-from-now product announcements) timed coincidentally to cast a shadow over the MacWorld events, hoping to steal valuable tech-press headlines with news about Corona (the upcoming Windows Media Player update) and whatever they plan to have their own keynote about tomorrow, probably commencing at about 8:00AM Pacific time, so the reporters can be off and writing about it just as Steve takes the stage and faces what he'll be startled to find is an empty room with the sound of crickets.
(Interesting how this seems to have backfired already-- as the only headlines Microsoft seems to be stealing are the ones calling them on their thunder-stealing tactic; the same headlines that mention Corona also mention MacWorld.)
At the same time, we've got these interesting reports of Microsoft lambasting Apple over their lackluster marketing strategy for OS X:
Chief among the worriers: Microsoft, whose Office software has long been pivotal to the Macintosh. Microsoft says sales of a version of Office specially tailored for OS X-equipped Macintoshes have been sluggish, totaling only 300,000 copies since it was released in November -- behind the pace of the 750,000 it had expected over the first year.
Microsoft blames Apple. "There hasn't been a concerted effort to promote Mac OS X, even though the opportunity is there and our willingness is there," says Kevin Browne, who heads Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit.
Mr. Browne says Microsoft is committed to delivering another version of Office for Macintosh in 2003. But beyond that, he says, "it's harder to predict. If things don't dramatically turn around, we'll be evaluating this business with Apple."
Hey look, Steven den Beste was right. I guess this is that "real competition" he was talking about, though more overt still than he had predicted.
So, then... what does Apple do, having just borne two separate attacks from Microsoft within one week-- one direct and one sidelong-- and the thread of another one on Wednesday?
Why, release QuickTime 6, of course.
Evidently the MPEG-LA has caved. The royalty fees for content producers have been lifted for non-fee-charging video streams, and those who pay up front-- like those who shell out $30 for a new QuickTime Pro key-- don't have to worry about it ever again. And here I was despairing of Apple having any clout over things like this.
Now, granted, after a fair amount of encoding experimentation last night and earlier with the Preview version, I have been unable to conclusively prove to myself that MPEG-4 provides any better video quality than Sorensen 3. In fact, it seems to me that it's a good deal worse for the same file size; surely I'm doing something wrong, but I've got a sinking feeling about it. Likewise, AAC audio is supposed to be a great successor to MP3-- but while it does sound just as good at 1/3 to 1/2 the bitrate, the movies I'm exporting with AAC audio end up with twice the file size allocated to the audio stream than I'd had with QDesign Music 2 prior to QT6. Sure, it sounds better-- but I'll bet QDesign would have sounded better if I'd given it twice the bitrate, too.
From EE Times:
But John Dunlop, one of its senior design engineers, sees the possibility of MPEG4 being overtaken by the Advanced Video Coding H.264 standard. H.264 is 25% better than MPEG4, says Dunlop, who also notes challenges from the DIVX and Real Networks technologies.
Even the Moving Pictures Experts Group (MPEG) committee is concerned. Rob Koenen, president of the MPEG4 Industry Forum, said: “It's make or break for MPEG4. The standard was frozen three-and-a-half years ago, and licences should already have been available.”
Indeed. Snuh.
Well, anyway. At least there are other very competitive challengers out there to prevent Corona from becoming the dominating force in the Internet video world, which is all I really care about.
No it's not. I lie.
Sorry; I'm just not feeling very coherent today. Still dizzy.
Anyway-- at least there's one very bright spot on the Mac radar; and that is Audion 3. This is the front-running shareware MP3 player software on the Mac, designed in a "traditional" MP3 player way, with support for skins (which are a thing of beauty with Quartz transparency and antialiasing and so on) and album art and Ogg Vorbis support and all those things that iTunes doesn't do in the name of streamlined core functionality. Audion now even will drive your iPod; ain't that somethin'?
It's a perfect example of the kind of top-notch shareware the Mac community creates. Granted, there isn't as much of it as in the Wintel world; but the average quality of Mac shareware tends to be higher-- it's slick, clean, un-buggy, and designed with real UI sensibilities and design standards. It's one of the less well-known and less visible benefits. I still remember, after all, when Audion 2 was released, the reaction of Clango:
Well, that's about it for the past couple of bleary days from this odd little viewpoint. Tomorrow is the Stevenote, and I have to decide whether I have the physical strength to force myself awake at 6:00 in the morning to grab the live stream.
I probably don't. But I'll probably do it anyway.
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