Frank Casanova, Apple’s director of QuickTime product marketing, has criticized Microsoft’s move to transform its proprietary Windows Media 9 multimedia software into a standard, telling Macworld UK that “when you are part of a standards organization you don’t develop it behind closed doors.”
Earlier this month Microsoft submitted its Windows Media 9 A/V codec to the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) for review and ratification of its software as a standard. Casanova told Macworld UK that he doesn’t think Microsoft has stopped development of its software while waiting for ratification.
“Do you think for a second that Microsoft will stop working on WM9?” he said. “I don’t think so. So suddenly you’ve got two standards, and the company will continue to evolve its own version. That’s not what we [Apple] are doing … When you are part of a standards organization you don’t develop it behind closed doors, you do it in complete conjunction with all the companies involved in that standard. That’s how a standard is born, not by one company, but with dozens working together.”
Still, Casanova told Macworld UK that he would welcome Windows Media 9 to the Mac platform. “Our customers deserve access to all the best content on the planet, and I would welcome Microsoft WM9 and RealPlayer to Mac OS X with open arms, because they have some great content,” he said. “And what we’d love to do is supply the same level of parity on the Mac as they have on the PC. So, even though I’m the QuickTime guy I’d be really happy if they came to the Mac.”