Apple Aims QuickTime 4, Streaming Server at Real, Microsoft

Computergram International, April 21, 1999

By Rachel Chalmers Apple Computer Inc upgraded its respected multimedia player, QuickTime, to handle streaming video and audio over the internet. Announced at the National Association of Broadcasters conference in Las Vegas, the upgrade is squarely targeted at streaming media rivals - and relative upstarts - Microsoft Corp and RealNetworks Inc.

Unlike its competitors, QuickTime 4 handles the controversial MP3 audio compression format and is available for free download. As if that weren't aggressive enough, Apple also announced that it will release parts of the source code for the QuickTime server software - called Darwin Streaming Server - under its Apple Public Source License (APSL). Users can download Darwin Streaming Server as a free update to the Mac OS X operating system. "Finally, streaming live video and audio over the internet no longer requires proprietary software and expensive servers," said perpetual interim CEO Steve Jobs in a very obvious dig at Microsoft and Real. The idea is to eat their lunch. "By including streaming as part of Mac OS X Server and interdicting Darwin Streaming Server, Apple is significantly lowering the cost of streaming digital video and audio and the result should be a deluge of high quality streamed content," Jobs concluded. To regain its former hegemony in multimedia, Apple recognizes that it must win back developer hearts and minds - hence, perhaps, the release of the source code. The company shows signs that it is learning to get along with the often fractious open source and free software communities. The release of parts of Apple's Mac OS X Server under the APSL infuriated some prominent members of those communities, who were concerned that the license reserves certain software rights for the exclusive benefit of Apple. So Apple has also announced changes to the APSL, intended to allay those concerns. In other streaming media news, Sun Microsystems Inc and Real announced transcode capability for MPEG-2 files to RealAudio G2 and RealVideo G2. That's tremendously significant for traditional broadcasters with internet content holdings, since they should now be able to use traditional broadcast content for delivery over the web. The partners say it was Sun's recently announced StorEdge Media Central software, an open platform for digital media management and distribution, that made the transcode capability possible.