Google has been a big part of the Web-based real time communications (WebRTC) landscape for some time now, on par with Mozilla in terms of bringing out the ability to connect to other people by text, voice, or file sharing direct from a browser window. With WebRTC about to step up and take its place in the communications world, Google brought out a video from its I/O show detailing some of its plans for WebRTC.
Google led off the video with something of a practical demonstration, as Justin Uberti took the stage to handle the live end, and Sam Dutton waited on the other end of a monitor to serve as the live demonstrator on the Web side of things. Essentially, Uberti and Dutton managed to deliver an entire presentation, from a stage, with Uberti on the live side and Dutton briefly delivering his share of the presentation directly from a monitor before going live himself. This shows one critical impact of WebRTC: the ability to use this as a presentation system as well as a collaboration tool.
The video continued on for some time, with Uberti and Dutton discussing MediaStream use in the WebRTC process as well as resolution constraints, what kinds of servers would be needed to bring the whole process online, details of interoperability and security, and more.
Uberti and Dutton introduced WebRTC as a way to bridge the gap between the traditional Web and services like Skype, which made a name out of doing what the Web at the time could not. But now, with WebRTC, the Web proper can actually do what Skype does, and all from a browser window. The presentation also gave a better look at the stakes of WebRTC; with all the various systems that can use WebRTC--Chrome (as well as Chrome for Android), Firefox, and eventually Opera--combining to form a pool of over a billion users.
Uberti and Dutton also showed off some of the coding methods around WebRTC, as well as some different applications -- including games and various image manipulation tools -- to put WebRTC to work. As for resolution constraints, full HD is, according to the video, quite possible with some resolutions hitting 1280 by 720. Bandwidth constraints are, as ever, an issue, but WebRTC looks to use only what's available, and appears to have specific operations at the code level to make the best use of available bandwidth.
Google's plans for the WebRTC space are easily some of the largest and most ambitious in the field. Google, via Chrome and Chrome for Android, is one of the major players in terms of endpoints for WebRTC, so it's clear that Google needs to be big in the field to not lose out on market share. With two sources of endpoints, though, it's a safe bet that the company can very much keep its hand in on this particular market, and with a variety of new products and services related to WebRTC coming out on a regular basis -- not just from Google, either -- the market will only expand.
Still, WebRTC is about to be a very real part of a lot of users' lives in fairly short order, and right now Google has a lot of room to run in the field.
Edited by
Rich Steeves
