I'm not for or against either—that's why I wanted to step back and make sure we're talking about this in terms of the history of the issue. Sure, I have my preference for how I'd like to see things pan out as a developer who just managed a 6 month project deploying video to a large client base.
> Why are so many against the proprietary Flash format but embrace the H.264 codec?
This is the wrong question to me. A more apt comparison is to JPEG or GIF. Considering the work I just did, it's like comparing JPEG to Bitmap—of course I like JPEG better, and its licensing issues have been transparent to me as a developer and end-user.
As a developer, I dislike Flash because:
1. it's slow on my computer
2. it requires another language for client-side development,
3. it breaks how the web "works" (open in new window, back button, etc.)
4. it costs me a developer money as opposed to the browser vendor
If you look at the above list, the web going the way of H.264 has none of these problems. Personally, I'd like a single video format but wish that WebM had come along two years ago instead of causing another transition in video formats.
> Why are so many against the proprietary Flash format but embrace the H.264 codec?
This is the wrong question to me. A more apt comparison is to JPEG or GIF. Considering the work I just did, it's like comparing JPEG to Bitmap—of course I like JPEG better, and its licensing issues have been transparent to me as a developer and end-user.
As a developer, I dislike Flash because:
1. it's slow on my computer
2. it requires another language for client-side development,
3. it breaks how the web "works" (open in new window, back button, etc.)
4. it costs me a developer money as opposed to the browser vendor
If you look at the above list, the web going the way of H.264 has none of these problems. Personally, I'd like a single video format but wish that WebM had come along two years ago instead of causing another transition in video formats.