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Google to Open Source the VP8 Codec
Several readers noted Google's reported intention to open source the VP8 codec it acquired with On2 last February — as the FSF had urged. "HTML5 has the potential to capture the online video market from Flash by providing an open standard for web video — but only if everyone can agree on a codec. So far Adobe and Microsoft support H.264 because of the video quality, while Mozilla has been backing Ogg Theora because it's open source. Now it looks like Google might be able to end the squabble by making the VP8 codec it bought from On2 Technologies open source and giving everyone what they want: high-quality encoding that also happens to be open. Sure, Chrome and Firefox will support it. But can Google get Safari and IE on board?"
We're all very quick to hit Google when they do something wrong. This one pretty clearly is "do no evil". Thanks Google!
While true, they ain't done it yet. Right now this is just a "future product announcement" and that can be evil. Call me when you have the code...
Firefox has everything to lose. IE9 is going to hit them hard when it comes out.
I wouldn't be surprised if Chrome in 2 years is where Firefox is now, and Firefox had half its current share.
Comment of the year
I mostly hold them to the same standards that I hold Microsoft, or any other huge corporation. Google looks good in comparison to almost all of the "competition". So far, at least. They could go and do something downright evil, like helping the next Nazi regime to catalog all the Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, etc, like Big Blue did about 70 years ago.
Dammit, have I godwined this thread? That sucks . . . .
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
Consider the flipside, designing a codec is Really Hard Work.
So is splitting and stacking a cord of wood, but people do it every day.
On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days
If Google would stop censoring search results in China, I would be convinced...
When his defense asked, "Which computer has Jon Johansen trespassed upon?" the answer was: "His own."