However someone is spoiling the party:
http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB19980615S0014
>W3C Steps Into Microsoft-RealNetworks Fight
>[...]
>Although Microsoft was a member of the W3C working
>group that developed SMIL, the company said it does not
>plan to base its NetShow steaming-media software
>around the new platform.
>
>[...]
>The standard's most prominent support so far has come
>from Seattle-based RealNetworks, which has made
>SMIL the foundation of its new G2 streaming-media
>software. The G2 system, available in a preview version,
>also is due in final form this summer.
>
>[...]
>The fight for market share between G2 and Microsoft's
>NetShow will determine the long-term viability of the
>SMIL standard. Early versions of the two multimedia
>players can read the other company's files, but the latest,
>most heavily hyped versions are moving apart.
>
>[...]
Oh well, gotta dash to install Linux on some more Alpha's we just
bought... apparently the machines "with Linux" are actually "without
anything else".
Rob.