MPEG Issues Call for Requirements for "Information exchange with Virtual Worlds" Interoperability Project
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Henrik Bennetsen
Jun 17, 2009, 3:53:42 PM6/17/09
to Kyoryoku Mailing List
There's been an active push from within the industry to establish standards for virtual worlds that would promote interoperability. Jean H.A. Gelissen from Philips, which is a part of the interoperability group, is also working with the ISO MPEG working group on the Information Exchange with Virtual Worlds project, or MPEG-V. The group recently issued an extended call for requirements, now looking to create a standard for architecture, interfaces between virtual worlds, and interfaces between the virtual world and the physical world.
Anyone look into this?
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Henrik Bennetsen
Associate Director
Stanford Humanities Lab
Stanford University
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daniel miller
Jun 17, 2009, 4:50:16 PM6/17/09
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I believe my thoughts about the MPEG consortium are well known so I won't repeat them again.
I will say that I think it is important for us as open-source, open-IP proponents, to make sure a parallel effort to what MPEG is trying to standardize is put forward and gets attention. The IETF is probably our best bet for such an effort. We should take another look at the Forterra document, and perhaps think about what other aspects of interoperability we might consider opening a dialog towards standardization sooner rather than later.
The problem here is that as engineers, our tendency is to say "we're not ready for a standard, things are still in flux". That is a perfectly reasonable position to take from a technical point of view, but it poses a risk in terms of momentum and visibility. MPEG is out there making noise long before they have anything close to a final draft, because they are trying to capture 'mindshare' in this space. It's a classic FUD move (Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt). Microsoft and other big companies do this all the time, putting out press releases about what is essentially vaporware years before an actual usable product is released. If a big institution like MS or MPEG says they're working on something, it tends to create its own reality, because the smaller players figure these 800 lb gorillas will eventually put something out, so they should wait and see before supporting anything else.
I am aware that this line of thought -- seeing technology as chess pieces in a grand, Machiavellian struggle for power -- may be uncomfortable or seem presumptuous, or just irrelevant and annoying. Perhaps there should be a different forum for this kind of talk. However I feel compelled to put it out there, because it is the reality that I have experienced first hand. I'm not saying we have to compromise our principles, but it is incumbent upon us to understand the state of play out there in the real world, and strategize accordingly.
-dan
I will say that I think it is important for us as open-source, open-IP proponents, to make sure a parallel effort to what MPEG is trying to standardize is put forward and gets attention. The IETF is probably our best bet for such an effort. We should take another look at the Forterra document, and perhaps think about what other aspects of interoperability we might consider opening a dialog towards standardization sooner rather than later.
The problem here is that as engineers, our tendency is to say "we're not ready for a standard, things are still in flux". That is a perfectly reasonable position to take from a technical point of view, but it poses a risk in terms of momentum and visibility. MPEG is out there making noise long before they have anything close to a final draft, because they are trying to capture 'mindshare' in this space. It's a classic FUD move (Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt). Microsoft and other big companies do this all the time, putting out press releases about what is essentially vaporware years before an actual usable product is released. If a big institution like MS or MPEG says they're working on something, it tends to create its own reality, because the smaller players figure these 800 lb gorillas will eventually put something out, so they should wait and see before supporting anything else.
I am aware that this line of thought -- seeing technology as chess pieces in a grand, Machiavellian struggle for power -- may be uncomfortable or seem presumptuous, or just irrelevant and annoying. Perhaps there should be a different forum for this kind of talk. However I feel compelled to put it out there, because it is the reality that I have experienced first hand. I'm not saying we have to compromise our principles, but it is incumbent upon us to understand the state of play out there in the real world, and strategize accordingly.
-dan
Hurliman, John
Jun 17, 2009, 5:20:44 PM6/17/09
to kyor...@googlegroups.com
You can ping me offline for an explanation of why the virtual world development community is avoiding this like the plague.
John
> -----Original Message-----
> From: kyor...@googlegroups.com [mailto:kyor...@googlegroups.com] On
> Behalf Of Henrik Bennetsen
> Sent: Wednesday, June 17, 2009 12:54 PM
> To: Kyoryoku Mailing List
> Subject: [kyoryoku] MPEG Issues Call for Requirements for "Information
> exchange with Virtual Worlds" Interoperability Project
>
> There's been an active push from within the industry to establish
> standards for virtual worlds
> <http://www.virtualworldsnews.com/2007/10/ibms-peter-hagg.html> that
> <http://www.chiariglione.org/mpeg/> on the Information Exchange with
John
> -----Original Message-----
> From: kyor...@googlegroups.com [mailto:kyor...@googlegroups.com] On
> Behalf Of Henrik Bennetsen
> Sent: Wednesday, June 17, 2009 12:54 PM
> To: Kyoryoku Mailing List
> Subject: [kyoryoku] MPEG Issues Call for Requirements for "Information
> exchange with Virtual Worlds" Interoperability Project
>
> There's been an active push from within the industry to establish
> standards for virtual worlds
> would promote interoperability. Jean H.A. Gelissen from Philips,
> which is a part of the interoperability group, is also working with
> the ISO <http://www.iso.org/iso/home.htm> MPEG working group
> which is a part of the interoperability group, is also working with
> <http://www.chiariglione.org/mpeg/> on the Information Exchange with
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