[theora] Google to Open-source VP8 for HTML5 Video

[Silvia Pfeiffer]

On Tue, Apr 13, 2010 at 11:35 AM, Basil Mohamed Gohar
<abu_hurayrah at hidayahonline.org> wrote:
> On 04/12/2010 09:32 PM, Silvia Pfeiffer wrote:
>> There is a whole swag of things Google will have to solve before VP8
>> is actually usable on the Web. I doubt the announcement will be that
>> they have solved it all etc, but that the announcement will be that
>> they open source VP8 with an aim towards getting all the other issues
>> sorted.
>>
>> I wrote an in-depth blog post about this earlier, see
>> http://blog.gingertech.net/2010/02/20/googles-challenges-of-freeing-vp8/
>> . They are now taking the first step along the list of things that I
>> mentioned are necessary.
>>
>> It is great to see this, but unless we see Apple and Microsoft
>> committed to VP8, too, it is unlikely that VP8 will be in a better
>> position than Theora as an open codec (except for the potential of
>> higher quality, which still needs to be confirmed).
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Silvia.
>>
> If Google were to implement YouTube with VP8, the relevance of Apple &
> Microsoft will fade if they don't follow suit.  It might take a while,
> and it could potentially cause a serious split, but, well, Microsoft has
> basically divided the Internet before with IE, so it really wouldn't be
> anything new.  Apple really isn't relevant except for the fact that they
> are on the HTML5 committee, unfortunately.

Video iPod, iPad and iPhone are all very relevant to the market and
are the main users of HTML5 video right now. Do not underestimate
Apple.

Google might add VP8 to YouTube, but they sure as hell won't remove
H.264 from YouTube. Thus, Apple and Microsoft won't care - in
particular Apple's devices will continue to play those formats.

No, YouTube isn't the hammer with which to beat Apple and Microsoft to
the table. The approach must be much more subtle and will take its
time. Standards bodies are one approach - in particular ISO/MPEG,
since both Apple and MS are members and would thus find it hard to
explain why not to support a new ISO/MPEG standard. There are also
other means, but it will take time. I think there is a good position
for Theora in the meantime.

Cheers,
Silvia.