What will Google do with ON2?
Haven't seen much commentary on this yet, but Google is moving to acquire ON2, makers of the video codecs that have helped drive Flash video into the mainstream. One of the biggest battlegrounds around the evolving HTML5 spec is how to implement video as part of HTML rather than requiring a third party plugin such as Flash. All the major players have smashed heads as they fight over what codecs they'd be willing to support in their browsers. The open source world wants Ogg Theora, which is an inferior codec, while the corporate players each have their own agendas.
What if Google freely released the ON2 codecs? HTML5 could benefit if everyone agreed to support these instead of Ogg Theora. Users would win by having native browser support for playback of the millions of videos on the web already. Adobe would win as they'd be able to implement the codecs into Flash Player without the small fortune I'm sure they currently pay in licensing fees. Anyone looking to embed or work with the Flash Player, including future mobile versions would benefit from this as well as Adobe would be able to reduce their licensing costs for the player too.
If Google sticks to their do no evil motto, this could be one of the most significant acquisitions this decade.
Update: here's an interesting take on this move and why it may be fairly insignificant. I think I'd be inclined to agree with the commenters in that, $106million seems like nothing for Google to spend if it gives them a way to kill Ogg Theora for HTML5.
marcelo Olandim wrote on 08/06/09 8:05 AM