Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) dropped a bombshell recently when it announced that it does not accept the licensing conditions for implementing the proprietary H.264 codec and will no longer support it for its Chrome web browser. In a blog post that attempts to shed more light on the situation, Google Product Manager Mike Jazayeri explained that the move was due to Google's goal to enable open innovation by focusing the company's investments "in those technologies that are developed and licensed based on open web principles."

Not surprisingly, publishers and developers have expressed concern that they will now have to support multiple copies of video content. Others have accused Google of trying to push its own WebM codec, which Google acquired after paying $124.6 million for a company called On2 Technologies in 2009. Some observers think that it boils down to money, and the hundreds of millions that can be saved with YouTube supporting a single format rather than multiple formats. Of course, with Chrome having a market penetration of just 10 percent, it remains to be seen if Google will eventually be forced to backtrack on its decision.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at eWeek
- check out this article at Chromium Blog
- check out this article at OStatic

Related Articles:
Firefox vs. Internet Explorer vs. Chrome vs. Safari
Google Chrome 7 arrives with fixes for hundreds of bugs, some new features