"1. Mozilla is the only browser that has no legal way to provide integrated H.264. Every other major browser is backed by a corporation and can afford the MPEG LA fee."
Mozilla could afford to pay MPEGLA but that doesn't help any of Mozilla's downstream distributions and it doesn't help other developers building open source software that want to include H264 capabilities. (Not to mention that millions of dollars a year in patent fees could be better spent on initiatives like building a better video future with Daala.)
Mozilla's mission is about more than just Firefox, it's about the Web, and solutions that only work for Mozilla distributed products generally aren't great solutions for the long-term health of the Web.
Mozilla could have shelled out the cash to license patents from MPEG-LA and adopted an existing open source H264 implementation. That would certainly have been better sooner for Firefox users, and possibly for <video> on the Web, but that would not have been enough for Mozilla because we are not in this game for our own profit. We're here because the Web needs us on its side, looking out for the interests that BigCos generally won't.
Finally, there is no chance that Mozilla, even with a giant Kickstarter campaign, could buy out the MPEG-LA patents for H.264. Not gonna happen. (Unless I'm missing all the multi-billion dollar Kickstarter success stories.)
Mozilla could afford to pay MPEGLA but that doesn't help any of Mozilla's downstream distributions and it doesn't help other developers building open source software that want to include H264 capabilities. (Not to mention that millions of dollars a year in patent fees could be better spent on initiatives like building a better video future with Daala.)
Mozilla's mission is about more than just Firefox, it's about the Web, and solutions that only work for Mozilla distributed products generally aren't great solutions for the long-term health of the Web.
Mozilla could have shelled out the cash to license patents from MPEG-LA and adopted an existing open source H264 implementation. That would certainly have been better sooner for Firefox users, and possibly for <video> on the Web, but that would not have been enough for Mozilla because we are not in this game for our own profit. We're here because the Web needs us on its side, looking out for the interests that BigCos generally won't.
Finally, there is no chance that Mozilla, even with a giant Kickstarter campaign, could buy out the MPEG-LA patents for H.264. Not gonna happen. (Unless I'm missing all the multi-billion dollar Kickstarter success stories.)