Free Video Hosting Coming From Microsoft

[Chris Gohlke]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.betanews.com/article/Microsoft_Offers_Free_Video_Hosting/1177966478' target='_blank'>http://www.betanews.com/article/Microsoft_Offers_Free_Video_Hosting/1177966478</a><br /><br /></div><i>"In order to spur adoption of its new Silverlight platform for developing rich Internet applications, Microsoft is offering up free video hosting that falls under the company's Windows Live services brand. Microsoft is making it easier to deliver content using Silverlight by offering up its massive content delivery network that spans datacenters around the globe. Silverlight Streaming by Windows Live includes storage space of 4GB, and users can upload video segments up to 10 minutes in length."</i><br /><br />Looks like this will be free for at least the time being and will offer DVD quality, on the surface making this look like YouTube on steroids. Digging a little deeper though, Microsoft seems to be taking this to the next level and is subsidizing the creation of content in order to support the adoption of it's platform.

[Philip Colmer]

I'm excited about this - excited enough to seriously look at what would be involved in using video on my web site as a means of promoting the services we do.

I hope that the streaming service doesn't stop being free. I guess that they might charge if you want to store more than, say, 4GB.

The quality is very good - there is a trailer for Fantastic 4 on the Silverlight.net (http://silverlight.net/) web site. The playback starts almost immediately - much quicker that I've seen on other formats.

--Philip