Seven big-name Internet companies today announced formation of the Alliance for Open Media – an open-source project that will develop next-generation media formats, codecs and technologies in the public interest. The Alliance's founding members are Amazon, Cisco, Google, Intel Corporation, Microsoft, Mozilla and Netflix.
Reportedly, the group plans to publish its code under the Apache 2.0 license and it will operate under W3C patent rules, meaning the members will waive royalties from the codec implementations and their patents on the codec itself.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 02 2015, @09:56PM
WE need new codecs because we can save a bit of HD space and use those 8 core CPU, but OUR needs are already covered by vp9, theora and the like.
THEY need to control stuff, including codecs. It doesn't matter who owns the patent, it matters for the corporation, but not for the system, who sees only money getting from point A to B, both under the same rules with the same managers, with the same mindset.
This is why free and open stuff are never for the mainstream, even when they beat hands down the proprietary stuff.