Speex dev - Aug 2007 - Microsoft RTAudio

Hi people

Just wondered what your thoughts are on Microsoft's RTAudio codec that they
use in their Unified Communications stuff:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=5D79B584-79C9-42A8-90C4-4AB3F03D19C4&displaylang=en

They let people license it to use in their own products. I couldn't find any
sample clips of RTAudio encoded speech. Apart from being $35000 less expensive,
does anyone have any other reasons as to why Speex is better?

-Thom

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> Just wondered what your thoughts are on Microsoft's RTAudio codec
> that they use in their Unified Communications stuff: 
>
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=5D79B584-79C9-42A8-90C4-4AB3F03D19C4&displaylang=en
The document is interesting... So it took them 6 years to come up with a
codec that has almost the same structure as Speex (sub-band CELP --
can't tell what codebooks they're using), almost 1/5 of the modes
supported and $35,000 more expensive. Looks like a great codec indeed
(OK, I haven't actually found any samples to tell the quality).
> They let people license it to use in their own products. I couldn't
> find any sample clips of RTAudio encoded speech. Apart from being
> $35000 less expensive, does anyone have any other reasons as to why
> Speex is better?
That's a tough one. Let me think...
- Because it's an open standard
- Because it's not from Microsoft
- Because you can do whatever you like with it
- Because it's not from a convicted monopolist
- Because it supports 8 rates in narrowband and 11 in wideband
- Because it's not from a company that is known for killing
compatibility every few years to force upgrade
- Because it's very flexible
- Because I wrote it, so it must be good :-)

Cheers,

	Jean-Marc

Hello Jean:

Big mistake!!

One of the three things that a supplier should never discuss is 
politics ... that's business 101.

Speex may be a very good product, but we will never use it because of 
the politics that you espouse ... some of us out here believe 
strongly in the free market. And we also know that monopolies can't 
exist because entrepreneurs will always exploit the inevitable market 
openings left by another supplier ... in this case Microsoft. In 
fact, Speex's success is proof of the statement I just made ... 
nevermind the rantings of left wing academics who typically have no 
real world business experience!

At 09:38 PM 8/31/2007 +1000, Jean-Marc Valin wrote:
> > Just wondered what your thoughts are on Microsoft's RTAudio codec
> > that they use in their Unified Communications stuff:
> > 
>
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=5D79B584-79C9-42A8-90C4-4AB3F03D19C4&displaylang=en
>
>The document is interesting... So it took them 6 years to come up with a
>codec that has almost the same structure as Speex (sub-band CELP --
>can't tell what codebooks they're using), almost 1/5 of the modes
>supported and $35,000 more expensive. Looks like a great codec indeed
>(OK, I haven't actually found any samples to tell the quality).
>
> > They let people license it to use in their own products. I
couldn't
> > find any sample clips of RTAudio encoded speech. Apart from being
> > $35000 less expensive, does anyone have any other reasons as to why
> > Speex is better?
>
>That's a tough one. Let me think...
>- Because it's an open standard
>- Because it's not from Microsoft
>- Because you can do whatever you like with it
>- Because it's not from a convicted monopolist
>- Because it supports 8 rates in narrowband and 11 in wideband
>- Because it's not from a company that is known for killing
>compatibility every few years to force upgrade
>- Because it's very flexible
>- Because I wrote it, so it must be good :-)
>
>Cheers,
>
>         Jean-Marc
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>Speex-dev mailing list
>Speex-dev@xiph.org
>http://lists.xiph.org/mailman/listinfo/speex-dev
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