The rescheduled shareholders vote for the merger with Google is in two days (Feb 17). I can't imagine they would turn down this second (and final) offer from Google, but if they did, do you think Google would stick with h.264, or find some other free codec? I ask because there was some speculation as to why Google chose not to use a free codec-- doing so would indicate they wanted On2's codecs to be the de facto standard for online video (what else could they want them for?), which would make them much more valuable. So if Google was turned down, what would they do then?
Either way, i hope the acquisition goes smoothly, and i'm excited for the results. How long will we have to wait, though? |
Well they stated at some point that if they are turned down again they will be utilizing their newly hired codec developers to compete with on2. I presume they would be either getting theora/dirac up to scratch or starting fresh with a new royalty free codec.
From what I have read on finance.yahoo.com alot of on2 stakeholders seem to have little knowledge of whats actually happening in the industry and would much rather have the company go bankrupt then have the CEO's rewarded for not forseing a change in demand towards open solutions.
For awhile they were convinced that oracle would place a bid and labeled those who told them they would not as google employees but when no other bids came they still refused to think logicaly and started rejoicing that the company will pretty much die while thinking they have time to rebuild it.
By the time they do rebuild .h265 will probably be out and .vp8 will most likely be as popualar as .vp7 in comparison.
They are a great example of why you should not create a publicly owned company, a pile of idiots who have know idea what it is they are investing in or how to save a company when the landscape of competitiveness changes.
They will see when its too late, they are already loosing partners to .h264 and with html5 they will have no chance to compete unless they open their formats.
At this stage I would love to watch them vote no again and see the company crash and burn just to see their faces.
If they vote no their employees will likely join google's new codec group anyway, who the hell would want to work for a company who's stakeholders would take the risk of having it go out of business and thus leave you go rather than trying to keep it in business.
Of course I am only speeking about the stakeholders who communicate on yahoo finance, full of conspiracy theories, childish slander and SHOUTING.
I would be quite embarresed to work for them to be honest.
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<<Well they stated at some point that if they are turned down again they will be utilizing their newly hired codec developers to compete with on2.>>
Now that's interesting. Do you have a link to where they said this?
<<I presume they would be either getting theora/dirac up to scratch or starting fresh with a new royalty free codec. >>
I was speculating on just that. If it's true that even if the On2 merger fails, they're committed to Free formats, then that is extremely promising. Please provide a link for reference though! |
Open letter to Google: free VP8, and use it on YouTube – Free Software Foundatoin:
http://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/google-free-on2-vp8-for-youtube
I don't doubt Google already plans on doing this, but i wonder whether they will "just" free the codecs, or be twice as awesome and hand it all over to Xiph! |
