In spite of several factors that worked to its disadvantage, Microsoft is still pushing its CU-RTC definition. After a successful demo, the Redmond, Washington-based company may have gained an advantage in the debate between CU-RTC and WebRTC that has CU-RTC opponents scrambling to come up with a working alternative.
In a nutshell, WebRTC (Web Real-Time Communications) is a standard under development from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) providing audio/video communications and peer-to-peer file sharing between browser applications without using plugins. The WebRTC specification is currently under development and incomplete. Stability issues between browsers also continue to be a problem.
CU-RTC is Microsoft's version of what it thinks is an improvement on WebRTC. Short for "Customizable, Ubiquitous Real Time Communication,” CU-RTC is supposed to be more flexible in the media formats and codecs it's compatible with and is also designed to be compatible with future innovation.
Microsoft criticizes WebRTC for several weaknesses, including a lack of support for stateless interaction, and too much dependency on technologies like SDP and SID.
Further bolstering Microsoft's position is that it has a working prototype using CU-RTC technology that demonstrates interoperability between the Chrome and IE browsers. This has put pressure on Google, Mozilla and others that support the WebRTC standard to come up with something demonstrating interoperability between browsers using the WebRTC standard.
Microsoft has overcome its late introduction of CU-RTC and losing a W3C vote that would have used many of its concepts in the WebRTC standard. It is in the driver's seat when it comes to making the case for CU-RTC by having a working demo using its technology. It might not be enough to get the W3C to change its mind on using CU-RTC, but it made its rivals look pretty bad in the process.
Edited by
Rachel Ramsey
