> The blame for this sits squarely on the w3c for their efforts in trying to replace flash by letting the content companies dictate standards for encrypted play

> The blame for this sits squarely on the w3c for their efforts in trying to replace flash by letting the content companies dictate standards for encrypted playback. It really isn't. The W3C at the very least permits a solution whereby content companies liberally distribute binary blobs for every platform under the sun. Hell, it even permits an open source solution that e.g. speaks directly to the DRM hardware in graphics chips (don't know if that would be technically feasible, don't shoot me). It doesn't have to be this way. In this context it's really specifically Google being assholes about this. They can choose to not be assholes about this. The fact that the W3C allows them to be assholes about this doesn't change the fact that Google is choosing to be this way about it.