Research, standards and thoughts for the digital world

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MPAI MPEG ISO

The MPEG Hall of fame

As MPEG is no more, it is time to open and populate the MPEG Hall of fame. It is not going to be an easy task because so many people have contributed to make MPEG what it was. The MPEG subgroup chairs will not be mentioned here. They are in the Hall of fame by default because they have been among those most committed to the success of MPEG. If you want to know their names, responsibilities and years of…

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Top-down or bottom-up?

On 2020/06/02 SC 29, the parent group of MPEG, decided to erase the group. This was the result of a combination of reasons: One National Body (NB) wanted to retain the MPEG activity within SC 29 Another NB craved to get control of international standards for digital media Other NBs were "convinced" that it was better to go this way Some individuals coveted "positions" Certain segments of the IP (Intellectual Property) industry were determined to perpetuate the outdated business model…

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This is ISO – a chaotic organisation

Human organisations that are created and develop based on a master plan discover that the world is more complicated than assumed by the master plan they started from. Sooner or later they must flexibly adapt the plan to the conditions on the field. Other human organisations start without a master plan and develop on the basis of actual conditions. Sooner or later they discover that the organisation has a dysfunctional structure that must be rationalised. I was not in Geneva…

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A future without MPEG

Table of contents Introduction The situation today The competitors What is/will be available What the market offers Licensing of other media coding standards My views on the next steps of media coding standards A disclosure My forecast So, what will happen next? And now? Introduction My plan this week was to talk about the prospects of MPEG for the next few years. But there is a big news: MPEG passed away on 2020/06/02T16:30 CEST. The agony was long, but the…

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This is ISO – A feudal organisation

Introduction The “International Organisation for Standardisation” – ISO – was established in 1947 on the ruins of World War II to accomplish one of the noblest activities that can be performed for humankind: making standards. I call this a noble activity because standards make the society of humans possible and better. When I first encountered ISO in 1987, I found it unique because the national ISO counterparts, so-called National Standards Bodies, even in countries not particularly bent on it, gave…

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Some have it straight

Developing standards is one of the greatest endeavours humans can do for their fellow humans. A well conceived and rightly implemented standard is the lubricant that makes society more efficient. Communication standards are even more valuable because they enhance the most powerful feature of humans to do things with other humans in a coordinated way. In the 20th century public authorities and entrepreneurs vied in inventing new ways to communicate within a community to the exclusion of others. My best…

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