"Corona" Aims to Improve Streaming Media

Microsoft has revealed some planned improvements to the next generation of Windows Media Technologies, its software and technology for creating, hosting, streaming, and playing digital audio and video. Code-named Corona, the next version of Windows Media Technologies will offer quicker and more reliable streams, the ability to insert content midstream, and a more flexible programming model. Most of the improvements were announced to coincide with the third beta of Windows .NET Server and are designed to appeal to Internet-based content distributors or corporations that use streaming media internally. Microsoft also announced improvements to the codecs used in creating Windows Media files, and new support from manufacturers of DVD players and car stereos.

Improvements in Windows .NET Server

All of the products associated with Windows Media Technologies— including the SDK, encoder, player, and hosting software—are free, a strategy that Microsoft hopes will encourage content producers to favor Microsoft’s Windows Media Format (WMF) over competitors, such as MPEG and RealNetworks’ formats. (For a detailed discussion of this strategy, see “Windows XP Gives New Push to Windows Media Format” on page 10 of the July 2001 Update.)