谷歌进军网络视频领域意在打击苹果

Google recently announced that it would stop directly supporting the H.264 video format in Chrome, favoring its own WebM format going forward. (It acquired the assets behind WebM when it bought On2 in 2009.)
谷歌近期宣布，将停止在Chrome浏览器中直接支持H.264视频格式，并专注于推动自有的WebM格式的发展。

There are several ways to interpret this move, such as Google simply favoring a video format it controls over one it doesn't, Google putting more weight behind Adobe Flash, etc. But this is also an attack on Apple, the latest in Google's escalating war with Apple.
业内对谷歌这一举措有不同的解读，例如谷歌只是希望推动自有视频格式的发展，以及谷歌将更加注重Adobe的Flash技术等。不过有专家认为，这一举措也是对苹果的打击。

How?
下面就是具体原因：

Since Chrome is going to natively support WebM and not H.264, it makes sense that YouTube would eventually move its videos over to WebM, and eventually stop making H.264 copies of everything, so as not to require 2X the storage space.
- 由于Chrome将原生地支持WebM，而不是H.264，这意味着YouTube将把所有视频转向WebM格式，并将停止以H.264格式制作备份。

Since Apple is such a huge H.264 supporter -- and has performance-boosting H.264 hardware decoders built-in to its iOS devices like the iPhone and iPad -- it's unlikely to become a WebM supporter or build-in WebM hardware decoders (once they exist) to its gadgets. Especially given how many other video companies have adopted H.264, such as Netflix, Hulu, Major League Baseball, etc.
- 由于苹果是H.264格式的主要支持者，并不断提升iOS设备，例如iPhone和iPad中内建的H.264视频解码器的性能，因此苹果不太可能成为 WebM格式的支持者，或是在iOS设备中内建WebM解码器。尤其考虑到有许多公司已经支持H.264，例如Netflix、Hulu和MLB等。

Therefore, there could someday be a time when some or all of YouTube won't play on iOS devices because some or all YouTube videos aren't in H.264 and iOS devices can't natively play WebM videos. This may take many years, or it may happen sooner, or maybe never. But it's a possibility. And YouTube is such a big video site (and was a strong initial partner for iOS) that it would be considered a blow to Apple. Google Android and Chrome OS, of course, will probably be optimized for WebM, something Google may try to use as a marketing advantage.
- 未来YouTube的部分或所有视频都可能无法在iOS设备上播放，因为YouTube的部分或所有视频将没有H.264编码，而iOS设备又不支持 WebM格式。这可能会在很多年之后发生，也有可能不会发生，不过对用户来说有这样的可能性。YouTube是一个庞大的视频网站，如果YouTube视频不支持iOS设备，那么将是对苹果的一次严重打击。谷歌Android系统和Chrome系统将会针对WebM进行优化，这将被谷歌作为一个营销亮点。

If Apple someday does have to support Google's video format for YouTube to work on an iPhone -- either natively, or through a plugin, or maybe even through Flash -- Google can laugh about that-
如果苹果最终以某种方式支持谷歌的视频格式，以便使iPhone支持YouTube视频，那么最终的赢家将是谷歌。

Google's move to strip out native H.264 support in Chrome means Chrome users would have to use Flash to play back H.264 video. That's fine, because Flash is pretty ubiquitous. But it could also be considered anti-Apple because of Apple's hard line against Flash on iOS devices, and Flash's generally crappy performance on Mac computers (relative to PCs)
- 谷歌宣布放弃对H.264的支持意味着Chrome浏览器用户需要使用Flash来播放H.264视频。这对用户来说没有太大影响，因为Flash非常常见。不过，这一举措也是反苹果的，因为苹果对待Flash的态度非常严厉，而Flash在Mac电脑上的性能也不是很好。

It's a little weird that Google is giving Flash such a boost here, because Google doesn't have (that we know) any financial interest in Flash's and Adobe's future. Maybe it's all about locking people into Flash so Flash ads continue to flourish at the expense of HTML5? Maybe it's to annoy Apple? Maybe Google wants to buy Adobe? We confess we don't know, but it's a bit odd.
- 谷歌全力支持Flash有些奇怪，因为Flash和Adobe未来的发展对谷歌来说没有影响。谷歌或许只是为了让用户继续使用Flash，使采用Flash技术的广告能够继续存在。此外，谷歌也可能只是为了打击苹果。

Big deal? Not yet -- not from a consumer's standpoint, especially. Very little is likely to change for the typical user for a while. But if you work in video, you're definitely thinking about it.
对用户来说，谷歌的举措不会对日常使用造成明显的影响。