> Even without patent issues, multiple codecs are a security, maintenance, and implementation quality nightmare that could only be sustained by the maniacs working on ffmpeg.
Only as insecure as your browser's intersection with the video codec.
> And there's no use case, because almost everything only has historical value.
You talk as if historical value is low. I'd argue it's higher than supporting 4k or whatever's used to sell TVs these days. Not much point if we just throw out our existing content!
> You need multiple implementations of something for it to be a standard, and just try reimplementing SSA subtitles in Matroska and getting any of it right.
It's not about standardness or getting it right, it's about being able to play my video file on any level. Really, anything other than current behavior would be hugely preferable. iOS has more support for autoplaying me ads without my asking than it does for my own damn home movies.
> You talk as if historical value is low. I'd argue it's higher than supporting 4k or whatever's used to sell TVs these days. Not much point if we just throw out our existing content!
Well, commercial content can be re-encoded for new formats and usually is. Playing old files is limited to physical purchases of media, home videos, retro video games and internet porn.
Sure. This is why Apple doesn't have the consumers best interest at heart: they prioritize business over building tools that function well with the assets people already have. But you didn't buy those, right, so they don't have value.
Only as insecure as your browser's intersection with the video codec.
> And there's no use case, because almost everything only has historical value.
You talk as if historical value is low. I'd argue it's higher than supporting 4k or whatever's used to sell TVs these days. Not much point if we just throw out our existing content!
> You need multiple implementations of something for it to be a standard, and just try reimplementing SSA subtitles in Matroska and getting any of it right.
It's not about standardness or getting it right, it's about being able to play my video file on any level. Really, anything other than current behavior would be hugely preferable. iOS has more support for autoplaying me ads without my asking than it does for my own damn home movies.