Attached Link: Did YouTube Cut the Gordian Knot of Video Codecs?

*"With WMV you depend on Microsoft and you must use Windows and Media Player, you are in their hands."* 

I do not believe that this is true. VLC available on Mac as well as Windows and Linux plays wmv. as doe the Mac only Flip4Mac plugin. Those are two I foind in 30 seconds of searching.

FLV is pretty widespread amongst the video sights and almost everyone has Flash installed.  YouTube is now experimenting with H264 IIRC. I think the media college link I gave you some time back, provided a good basic overview. If you need more detailed info, I'd find a media oriented site with an active forum. Not to disparage the font of wisdom here, but you're getting into a fairly specialized subject.

I assume you're going with http streaming rather than with hosting. If it were me, I would set up a server (There are a few like Xerver that are a snap to setup) or you can use IIS or Apache if you're more ambitious. Set up some sample pages, go hit your server over the inetrnet and see how the various configurations respond. It may sound likre overkill but if you're intent on doing something beyond just the usual upload it to YouTube, if you want your own custom website then I'd say it's worth it.  The link muses on youtube's choice of Flash and the tradeoffs.

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken