Cisco Releases Open Source "Binary Module" For H.264 In WebRTC 95
SD-Arcadia writes "Mozilla Blog: 'Cisco has announced today that they are going to release a gratis, high quality, open source H.264 implementation — along with gratis binary modules compiled from that source and hosted by Cisco for download. This move enables any open source project to incorporate Cisco's H.264 module without paying MEPG LA license fees. Of course, this is not a not a complete solution. In a perfect world, codecs, like other basic Internet technologies such as TCP/IP, HTTP, and HTML, would be fully open and free for anyone to modify, recompile, and redistribute without license agreements or fees. Mozilla is fully committed to working towards that better future. To that end, we are developing Daala, a fully open next generation codec. Daala is still under development, but our goal is to leapfrog H.265 and VP9, building a codec that will be both higher-quality and free of encumbrances.'"
Monty's comments (Score:5, Informative)
Beyond the official announcements, I strongly recommend reading Monty's comments [livejournal.com] on the issue.
Open source still requires license fees (Score:5, Informative)
As pointed out in the comments on the Cisco blog post by a Cisco PR rep, if you use the source code (as opposed to the binary) you are responsible for any resulting licensing fees. Cisco is only covering the fees for those who use the binary.
Re:Good luck with that... (Score:4, Informative)
Legally, there's a reasonable limit on how long you can wait (6 years under some theories). That being said, indeed can can never prove non-infringement, and it's equally valid for free codecs than it is for encumbered codecs. Paying the MPEG LA tax does not shield you from trolls, or even from companies that participated in the standard and aren't part of the patent pool (usually, not all declared IPR holders are represented in a pool).
Re:Good luck with that... (Score:5, Informative)
I recommend reading Monty's Daala demos 1 [xiph.org], 2 [xiph.org], 3 [xiph.org] and 4 [xiph.org]. We're not just building a similar codec, but making radical changes to many fundamental components of a video codec.
Re:Open Source Binary Module (Score:5, Informative)
FTA: "Cisco is going to release, under the BSD license, an H.264 stack, and build it into binary modules compiled for all popular or feasibly supportable platforms, which can be loaded into any application (including Firefox)."
From your comment: ..."since it lacks copyleft provisions to actually make the source open."
Looks like the source will be open, since they are releasing the stack under the BSD license. Looks like people will be able to do anything they want with it, including making baby mulchers, angel summoning portals, and *gasp* video player implementations. Oh, HORRORS, people might not submit their code back to Cisco after attributing their source to them (as simply doing so will allow people to find, oh, I don't know, the source that Cisco is offering for free under a BSD license?).
The only issue is with the fact that Cisco is having to provide a shield using the BSD license between MPEG LA and the rest of the world, while paying a hefty licensing fee for the privilege. However, using a BSD license means they cannot have any unreasonable hold over the source once it is out in the open. If anything, Cisco is a good guy in this (god, did I just say that?).
Re:Why not just build on VP9? (Score:4, Informative)
Why isn't this comment already rated -5 Troll? Pathetic even for a troll, 1 second Google search shows it is BSD licensed.
Phillip.