Mozilla is sprinkling the open video format for the web with cash as it granted a $100 million to an open source video codec, Theora. The grant will be dished out by Wikimedia Foundation to help support and further develop the codec. The idea is to rid upcoming codecs of restrictions that they face in terms of licensing fee and the likes. I hope Theora uses the grant for the good of it and with time stands as a serious competitor to existing leaders. Christopher Blizzard explained the reason why Mozilla is pending on these codec, stating:
You should be able to easily understand how something moves from a computer-readable format to something that is presented to a user. For example, turning HTML into a document, turning a JPEG file into a picture on the screen or using HTTP to download a file.
You must be able to implement and deliver that technology without requiring anyone’s permission or license. In reality this means that it should be available on a royalty-free basis and without encumbered documentation.
