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Microsoft announce a HTML5 H.264 extension for Google Chrome on Windows 7

| Latest News | February 2, 2011

Google Chrome

Google recently caused a stir around the interweb by announcing that it would stop including native support for H.264 encoded HTML5 video within Chrome. The search engine giant's web browser will instead only natively support Google's own WebM video with the HTML 5 video tag. This is part of Google's drive to promote their open and free to use Web video standard. It will also continue to bundle it's own Flash plugin (developed with Adobe), which will play Flash video encoded in H.264.

Initially the web was up in arms at this news with many accusing Google of an anti-Apple stance by trying to kill off H.264, the HTML video format that Apple already supports in Safari (on both Mac & iOS) and Microsoft are due to in Internet Explorer 9 (incidentally both iOS, OS X Snow Leopard and Windows 7 natively support both H.264 video  and AAC audio).

However once the initial kerfuffle died down, it became apparent that Chrome should still offer H.264 based HTML 5 video if the operating system it runs on supports it. It just won't offer up support itself within the browser, which it currently does.

So it isn't all doom & gloom for H.264 video in Chrome. At least on Windows: Microsoft have announced that they have created  a Windows Media Player HTML5 Extension for Chrome.

Writing on the MSDN Blog, Claudio Caldato, the (excitingly titled) Principal Program Manager of the Interoperability Strategy Team, said:

We believe that Windows customers should be able to play mainstream HTML5 video and, as we’ve described in previous posts, Internet Explorer 9 will support playback of H.264 video as well as VP8 video when the user has installed a VP8 codec.

We are committed to ensuring that Windows customers have the best Web experience, and we have been offering for several years now the extremely popular Windows Media Player plug-in for Firefox, which is downloaded by millions of people a month who want to watch Windows Media content.

As Claudio reminds us, Microsoft have already created a H.264 extension plugin for Windows 7 Firefox users:

We also recently provided an add-on for Windows 7 customers who choose Firefox to play H.264 video so as to enable interoperability across IE, Firefox and Chrome using HTML5 video on Windows

H.264 is the video standard for Blu Ray films, High Definition TV platforms and is supported by smaller portable devices such as the iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad, Zune HD & other Android devices. It is the most prevalent video format for Flash video online.

At UsedMac we believe that all users should have a choice of all the major CODEC's, whether MP3, WebM or H.264, so this news from Microsoft shows how far it's approach towards 'web interoperability' has come since the days of Internet Explorer 6.

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Video of a HP Windows 7 Slate caught out in the wild

| Latest News | September 25, 2010

Ancient Stone: Probably less rare than a Windows 7 Tablet

Oh good lord. A CTRL-ALT-DEL key? 32 seconds to boot up Windows 7? Oh dear.

Oh, Oh Dear.

Engadget think its the real deal. I hope for HP's sake its not.

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Keep OS X secure

| Cool Tips, Latest News | September 25, 2010

Security Icon
OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard delivers another Security Update via Software Update

Not Now: I bet you always click on that. Don't you.

Apple have released another Security Update for OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. This will roll together recent security issues into 1 update.

Which got me thinking. Fanbois of either Windows or  Mac's are endlessly flaming each other all over the internet over which OS is more secure. Many believe OS X has better security built on its UNIX origins, Windows users claim that Windows has more vulnerabilities purely down to the fact its user base massively dwarfs that of OS X, making it more attractive to hackers.

They do have a point. Not as many of us run OS X compared to Windows. This means you should make the most of the lowered threat level and always keep up to date.

Do you though?

Something dawned on me today in work. Many of our computers in the workplace are tools. We need them to just work and let us get on with our tasks. So when that annoying box pops up asking us to install 'Some Security Updates' I bet we all click 'Not Now'. Or 'Ask me later'. Or 'Go away I need to get this Powerpoint done. You get the point.

I'm guilty of it on Windows in work. I'm even guilty of it on my Mac. It feels different on the Mac though. It doesn't pester you. If the update needs a reboot to install and you hit 'Not Now', it will just stay in the Dock and not bother you. Whereas Windows Update on Windows Vista it will let you put it off for a period of time you decide, eventually bugging you into a restart. Sometimes it will even force you if its a critical update. This is no beef against Vista either; I've seen it on Windows 7 and XP on some corporate environments. Automatic Windows Update has made many PC's far more secure too.

The way these forced updates are implemented though can get rather annoying. I hate people not keeping their systems up to date. It irks me.

I also hate being told when to reboot and being inconvenienced, or worse, loose work.

It never seems to bother me though on OS X. This is another little bit of detail that I believe Apple has got right. If a Restart is needed to Update, it won't force it. Nor will it irritate you 'too' much. You are aware of it though, so you do eventually update. Crucially though your not annoyed and don't hate the OS for it.

Windows has a bad rep for the constant Security fixes, despite them being timely and keeping its users safe. Despite it being unfair, it shows how a little bit of thought on the details of design go a long way to giving your users that 'warm inside' feeling.

So you can even get a warm feeling over the way even the dullest bits of OS X are designed, which keeping you up to date with the latest Software and security fixes.

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Internet Explorer 9 for Mac OS X?

| Latest News | September 19, 2010

IE for Mac

Internet Explorer for Mac: If only it was still 2003...

The next generation of Microsoft's web browser, Internet Explorer 9, will never run on Windows XP according to the senior director of IE Business and Marketing, Ryan Gavin. But do we want it to come to the Mac?

Speaking to the Private Eye of IT, The Register, Gavin has said that XP users will instead get a "great experience" from IE8.

Are we in any way surprised though? I'm not. In fact I'm amazed elReg asked him at all.

Clearly Microsoft want to push users away from XP to Windows 7 so they are hardly going to bring they're latest browser to an Operating System that they are desperate for people to give up.

IE 9 is a huge leap forward for Internet Explorer: Hardware Acceleration, a streamlined interface that looks pretty good 'Chromed' in the Windows 7 UI and bang up to date with the next generation of web standards. It's even got a lovely preview website.

It shouldn't be heralded as the second coming though.

Let me be straight: as good as the preview screenshots look (and I was impressed given rock bottom expectations), this is merely Microsoft catching up with the competition. Boy they need to catch up as well. Since the release of IE 8 we have seen Firefox maintain a great market share and Safari has developed well as a simple clean yet fast browser. Most significantly though was Google bringing Chrome to the table.

As you know we are big fans of Chrome here at UsedMac. One of the reasons we recommend it is Google have changed our perceptions of how often we expect software version revisions. Incredibly IE8 was released in March 2009, but boy doesn't it feel older? Look how fast Chrome has developed since its release in September 2008. HTML 5 support, WebM video and well, sod it, just the sheer speed of the thing!

So whilst some are asking whether the Hardware Accelerated HTML 5 of the latest incarnation IE9 could possibly make it to XP, or, even more unlikely: OS X - I say No thanks. We'll stick to Safari and Chrome. It's too little too late lads.

And if your running XP? Well obviously I'd recommend getting a Used Mac running OS X Snow Leopard and Google Chrome.

Why is it then I'm torn?

Part of me wouldn't even dream of encouraging Microsoft to keep coding for Windows XP. As much as Vista gets stick, it has been coded for the age of Connected Computing. Before you have a go at me for its performance, you can't say it isn't secure. It was written for how we compute now: always online.

On the other hand, XP still accounts for 53% of global operating system use. Wouldn't it be better for the web to have all of these users automatically updated to the benefits of HTML5 without them even realising? Windows Update would do that job nicely.

As someone who has tried battling with modern web sites in my place of work in IE 6 and IE 7 running on XP I can vouch for how painful even Google Docs can be . Many large corporates are still running XP and may continue to do so. Worst of all, they'll be stuck with IE 8 at best.

It hardly helps to move the Web forward, does it?

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