Microsoft's support of web standards HTML 5

HTML 5

Google won some points in the I/O keynote by pointing out that, even with Internet Explorer (IE) 9, Microsoft's support of web standards dramatically trailed all of the competition. Microsoft's hope is that the continued success of its desktop products will render that fact less damaging Microsoft MCTS Training.

Google, meanwhile, is claiming that all meaningful software development since 2004 has occurred on the web and not on traditional PC platforms like Windows. I suspect it really meant all meaningful "new" software development, since new versions of products like Microsoft Office and Adobe Flash continue to be hugely successful and are installed on hundreds of millions of PCs. But the point is valid enough. And web apps based on the emerging HTML 5 standard are an important focus for all major platform makers, including Microsoft.

One advantage that Google has here is that virtually all of its applications are web applications, so it behooves the company to update them rapidly with support for new web technologies. While doing so, it's gaining valuable experience about how these web apps perform and scale. Microsoft, meanwhile, has cash cows to protect. And it's most innovative work—I'm thinking of Windows Phone 7 here—is occurring only in those markets where the previous product failed, so there's no reason to carry it forward. I've said it before, but Microsoft is going to need to adopt this mindset for all its product lines if it intends to remain dominant in the coming generation of web apps.
VP8

Google announced that it would open source and freely license a video codec called VP8, positioning it as an alternative to the expensive and complicated H.264 pseudo-standard. Critics—i.e., H.264 backers—note that VP8 isn't as high quality as H.264, and they may have a point. But it won't matter. For mobile devices and You Tube-type web video, VP8 looks just fine. Murkier is the intellectual property concerns around VP8. Since Google isn't offering indemnity against IP lawsuits, Microsoft will support VP8 but not include it with IE 9. This is the right decision, unless and until Google offers indemnity. (IE 9 will include H.264 video support, as Microsoft is paying for that license.) Microsoft MCITP Certification