Re: [rtcweb] Proposal for Theora baseline codec

[Stephan Wenger <[e-mail]>]

Hi Monty,
Couldn't it be that no one went after Vorbis and Theora because the
rightholders had no real incentive to do so?  For example, because the
products implementing Vorbis, in their vast majority, also included MP3
and/or AAC, and the rightholders would have to deal with patent exhaustion
arguments and whatnot after having gotten their money; and because theora
deployment never reached a critical mass because it was a) not good enough
technically, and b) felt to be too risky?
I would turn your argument around: the (comparatively speaking) lack of
commercial success of vorbis and theora, and the success of royalty
bearing standard codecs, suggest to me only that no one was fooled, except
perhaps the enthusiastic followers of those folks who keep pushing out one
"free" codec after another...
Stephan
  

On 3.29.2012 16:09 , "Monty Montgomery" <[e-mail]> wrote:

>If we're suggesting ten+ year-old codecs with low patent risk, let's
>choose an obviously higher performance example.  Dare I say it...
>Theora?
>
>I think we've gotten off track.
>
>Twelve years ago, oblique threats were made against the nascent Vorbis
>by Thomson and the whole world decided it was a patent risk.  It never
>was.  Fool me once, shame on you.
>
>In the mid 2000s, people started picking on Theora the same way, and a
>few years ago Steve Jobs [and Larry Horn, et al] informed the world he
>was coming after us. Nothing came of it.  Fool me twice, shame on me.
>
>Now we have the same substance-less muttering about VP8, suggesting
>that it's better to use leftover crumbs from 20 years ago.
>
>Fool me three times, I should begin to wonder if I have the requisite
>capacity to be engaging in technical endeavors.
>
>Monty
>Xiph.Org
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