[photon]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Now, you can download a special version of Firefox with some extra plugins installed that will allow you to view the videos. Only the ones encoded with WebM (a Google property), though... not the industry standard h.264 versions.

WebM isn't a Google property, it's free and open. The VP8 codec was something Google purchased, but it's also free and open.

H.264 is industry standard but it's also private and must be licensed, so you can't include a H.264 decoder in your software unless you get a license from MPEG-LA, meaning MPEG-LA has control over it, it's not free and open.

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Edit: Someone should really create a thread about h.264 vs WebM. I'm interested in figuring out why Google thinks we need a whole new video codec. How much of this is really just about not siding with Apple on something?

It's got nothing to do with siding with Apple, it's about free and open software which H.264 is not.

Originally Posted by FanIn80

At which point do the end-users themselves wind up paying the price for these companies not being able to work together on something? I'm not creating it, though. I don't have time to piss around with that kind of drama anymore.

Now you kind of get it.. the whole point of free and open software is to avoid this kind of thing, because otherwise you have companies and licensing bodies having control over who can and can't use a codec.

But that's the nature of business, MPEG-LA wants to protect their own interests and their own revenue streams and don't care how it impacts users as long as every time you watch an H.264 video they get their cut of the pie.

The whole point of WebM and VP8 is to have something completely open that no one has to pay to use, if I want to write a web browser I can make one that plays WebM media without having to get a license or restrict the license of the software I make.