Canonical following the Apple and Microsoft steps, already licensed H.264/AVC codec and they are the only Linux company that purchase patented non-free video technology.

The other big Linux distros like Fedora or Suse still didn’t make that move but we think they will license H.264 either because HTML 5 video will be based on this codec. There were suggestions about using open source Ogg Theora as a standard video codec for HTML 5 but the big companies like Microsoft, Apple and Google (Youtube) doesn’t support it, because, according to them, H.264 is far superior compared to Ogg Theora.

Ubuntu already license MP3 for their music store, now they will be set up for H264 and HTML5. Also, H.264 license will enable watching various H.264 encoded movies (digital camera or camcorder) and Blu-ray movies on Ubuntu as soon as posible.

Is that ok for us end users? Yes, if we still get free Ubuntu copies. But, we must understand that some things will never be open source and must be licensed in order to use them legally. As Ubuntu community grows with every release, such moves are very logical. More users means more incomes, the hardware companies will be more interested to preinstall Ubuntu on their new computers so everything will lead to bigger OS market share, that will employ more developers and the end result will be better OS and better support for everyone. At last, Ubuntu must never forget that the fortune will be made using open source community software and many supporters that helps adopting and sharing the ubuntu mission.

Now we are waiting for some Ubuntu 10.04 H.264 update to see how the thing will look in the feature. Here you can check the H.264 license list.

Tags | Internet, Linux, News, Ubuntu, Video, Video Codec