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Not Everybody Supports Google's Open Video Moves

Wouldn't you know it, directly on the heels of Google's announcement of its WebM royalty-free video codec, and the release of its underlying V8 technology under an open source license, the patent and lawsuit drums are rumbling in the distance. According to reports, MPEG LA, the organization that controls the H.264 video standard, is exploring creating a patent pool license for VP8. Meanwhile, Apple CEO Steve Jobs is reported to be as displeased with Google's move as he has been with previous open source codecs. Now that the age of video on the web is here to stay, this doesn't bode well for users.

Jobs' opposition to open source codecs has been well documented. In this email to the Free Software Foundation, Jobs reportedly noted that "all video codecs are covered by patents," and that "a patent pool is being assembled to go after Theora and other 'open source' codecs now." The email correctly points out that just because something is open source doesn't mean it doesn't infringe on patents, but it also rings of disdain for openness. Forbes.com expects opposition from Apple to Google's moves with V8 and WebM, and there were definitely signs of opposition between Google and Apple at this week's Google I/O conference.

Google acquired VP8 in February when it bought On2 Technologies for $125 million. There have been questions raised about whether V8 is up to par with other proprietary video standards, and other players in the online video space have the right to defend their patents, but why is it that just as video on the web is reaching its stride, all of this disagreement flies in the face of user choice and ease-of-use.

Mozilla and Opera were both squarely on-board with Google's plans when they were announced this week. Especially in the case of Mozilla, it would be unthinkable for the company not to be supportive, given its long-standing support for open standards. In Apple's case, it's not only "thinkable" for the company to unsupportive, but it isn't even a surprise to see the lack of support. It won't be a surprise, either, to see Google's royalty-free plan soon forced to move toward a royalty-based alternative. That's just too bad--for users.

• google
• Apple
• WebM
• V8
• MPEG LA

by El Spamolito on May. 23, 2010

I support google and it's open stance

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by Abhi Beckert on May. 23, 2010

After reading the full email, I don't see how you come to the conclusion that Jobs' doesn't want an open source video codec. He said it is "unfortunate" that there is no viable open source codec.

Apple supports h.264 because it has great quality and is broadly supprted by hardware and software. They don't support ogg or vp8 because it doesn't have anything going for it except an open implementation. In every other respect, VP8 is a step backwards.

Where is the low power hardware chip to decode and encode VP8? Until that arrives, it will never have full support. As I recall, h.264 was the first codec in the world to scale from high definition right down to mobile phones. I will never support a video codec that can't acheive high frame rates on a mobile phone or cheap point and shoot camera.

I love that VP8 is open source, it's a huge step in the right direction, bet there are a lot of steps still to be taken.

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by El Spamolito on May. 24, 2010

As a matter of fact I agree with both @tina itsrano and @Abhi Beckert because I also consider Google's open stance to be a positive aspect. However, my first thought when analyzing this was that Jobs would opposed to Google's working strategies and patents. After reading the e-mail, though, I was not able to confirm my thought and I was not able to see why you got to such a conclusion. I might be missing something!

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