Summary: Microsoft takes its opposition to royalty-free codecs up a notch

AS we routinely emphasise, knowing what's good for software freedom is an exercise which sometimes involves watching the reactions from freedom opponents such as Apple and Microsoft. Apple's and Microsoft's love of the MPEG-LA cartel (at the expense of Ogg and WebM) only makes it more apparent that MPEG-LA, which is headed by a patent troll, empowers proprietary software giants. They can accept patent thickets, whereas small businesses cannot.

Now, watch this picture from Bruce Lawson. Here is a copy (with attribution):

It is self-explanatory, is it not? Here is an article about the backlash which mostly came from Microsoft, using ridiculous analogies in a spin piece. Jan Wildeboer called it "Palinizing use of language by MSFT on Google and #webm #vp8 IMHO." He asked: "Can we haz civilised discussions, plz?"

Microsoft booster Peter Bright chose the headline "Google's dropping H.264 from Chrome a step backward for openness" and people can see the responses from LWN. Sag Arun wrote: "Is microsoft is filled with people like http://ur1.ca/2tkos #compares H.264 with english #fail" ⬆