Media: IBM's return to dominance, and MPEG-4

[Russell McOrmond]

Two stories to follow, each with questions...



  IBM's quest to rule the Internet

  Special Report: The company is on a tear towards industry
  supremacy. With masterful maneuvering of standards and open
  source, IBM has already stepped on Sun. Big Blue's next
  target: Microsoft.

http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/filters/specialreport/0,14622,6022458,00.html

RWM:  Just to watch for those who don't think we should be worried about 
IBM.  They may be doing Open Source now, but what happens if they are 
successful in pushing out their larger competitors?  Will they keep with 
Open Source, or become a worse form of "the next Microsoft"?


  MPEG-4 gets backing from movie studios
  http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1105-878777.html


RWM:  There is a quick note in this article saying, "But it has also
become mired in disputes over proposed licensing terms".  Has anyone been
following this enough to know if intellectual monopolies (likely
controvercial "software patents") are essentially going to cripple the
utility of this standard for all but the largest industry players?


---
 Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/>
 See http://weblog.flora.org/ for announcements, activities, and opinions
 Get Legal - become Free! http://weblog.flora.ca/article.php3?story_id=126
 Anti-Copyright Crusader  http://weblog.flora.ca/article.php3?story_id=133

--
For (un)subscription information, posting guidelines and
links to other related sites please see http://www.flora.org/dmca/