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Applesoft, Ogg, and the future of web video

Will the real open codec please stand up?

In Wikipedia (and Google) we trust

One group is taking action to head off H.264's dominance is the Open Video Alliance. This netizen effort is an umbrella of campaigns and projects to build and play video online using non-patented technologies. Members include Mozilla, open-source video platform Kaltura, and the Yale Law School's Information Society Project. Its latest project, Let's Get Video on Wikipedia, seeks to put open video technologies on the free online encyclopedia. Among them: the Ogg Theora.

Mozilla's Surman said the point is to institute a change rather than just complain about the evils of Microsoft and Apple. "Get Wikipedia to upload videos so that increases the traffic, which is a counter measure to those only doing HTML 5 in H.264," Surman said. "One of the things that created OVA is [the belief] we can start something that's compelling to the market an consumers. The thing about the OVA is [it's a case] of let's build something open and positive as opposed to lets wine about it."

While OVA rallies netizens, it's becoming clear from talking to people that the hopes for a codec-free video future are being placed in the hands of the internet's largest search engine and proud owner of YouTube - Google.

Increasingly, Google is seen as the one force that can effect a change because of a number of reasons. One is the size of its search engine, which can index and serve up video to millions of people from billions of sites to all corners of the web. Surman himself noted it could take "more powerful people" to say "we need something more open" if things turn really bad and - say - there is a repeat of the GIF incident.

“Google seems to be playing it both ways - backing closed codecs as that's where the content is while dabbling in HTML 5 for free and open video online”

Then there's YouTube - still the number-one destination for creatives of all types who are uploading and viewing video online. It's felt that if Google endorses open video codecs on YouTube, then a critical mass will build around the site that shifts the market and completely undermines H.264. Finally, there's Chrome, the fast-growing browser that uses both Ogg and H.264.

All signs are that Google is doing something. It recently bought video compression specialist On2 Technologies, and the rumor is that next month it will open source the company's codecs. This would be a huge step. Ogg Theora is based on an older On2 codec, and open sourcing the company's latest codec, VP8, would solve what Google's calls performance issues with Ogg.

But despite its rhetorical commitment to HTML5 and an open web, there's nothing to suggest Google will actually do anything after it opens On2's codecs - like get proactive to drive uptake.

Indeed, Google seems to be playing it both ways - backing closed codecs while dabbling in HTM 5 for free and open video. In January, Google added a "trial" HTML5 player to YouTube, and it used H.264 rather than Ogg. This meant the player did not work with Opera or Firefox. Google, though, indicated the player may support other codecs in the future.

And let's not forget Steve Jobs' sour letter to the FSF Europe. There's every reason to suspect that Apple, Microsoft, and other H.264 patent holders have recognized the combination of open source VP8 and Google's enormity could challenge H.264.

That would see the likes of Microsoft and Apple lose their licensing franchises as well as control over the technology stacks that have been built to work with H.264. If patent pool holders do "go after" Theora and others, then it should be seen as a preemptive to thwart Google's plan and to retain control.

One more thing: F**k you

Why? Because at the heart of On2 lies a weakness. The Ogg Theora that Jobs and MPEG LA dislike is based on the VP3 codec, which was released by On2 in 2001. If Jobs and MPEG LA shut down Ogg Theora, they can by extension neutralize VP3, On2, and Google.

Whatever Google does, it may not change anything. If Google open sources On2, then patent holders will act. If Google does nothing, then its status quo and companies keep signing up to license H.264. That will leave the grass roots netizens trying to tip at the giants by slowly building a achieve critical mass of free video through efforts like OVA - if Apple and others leave them any open-source codecs to play with, that is.

Music on the web is frozen behind MP3. Online video, though, is about to experience a revolutionary blast with the arrival of HTML5.

HTML5 offers the prospect that anyone can build video online using an open spec and know that it will run in video players without additional costs.

Sadly, tech giants that need to control their hardware stacks or their user “experiences” have also woken up to this and are moving fast to shove aside open-source players. They are working to ensure you will default to playing HTML5 on their patented technologies, and open sourcers like Canonical continue paying the price of admission to do business. ®

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