H.264 and Google's big buy

04/05/10 posted by Liz Niland

While the Apple vs Flash debacle has been carrying on for longer than we can be bothered calculating, it seems as though a push towards HTML5 and H.264 video by the major browsers will render Flash not so vital - even without including the lack of love from Mr Jobs and his close-knit Apple family of products.

The interesting development now in the saga of Adobe Flash’s won’t-go-down-without-a-fight-demise, is that Microsoft has announced they will support only the H.264 codec for HTML5 video. As explained on TechCrunch, while Flash players support this video format, “the more H.264 video is out there, the less need there will be for Flash players because those videos can play directly in an HTML5 browser, such as IE9, Safari, or Chrome.” And with a stronger push towards H.264 video, the web will get a whole lot more friendly for mobile devices, particularly those sold by Apple.

Eric Schmidt and his Googlers may be getting jittery over Facebook’s newest developments, but they’re certainly not showing it. Well, if we were worried about heightened competition from the mushrooming opposition, we probably wouldn’t sink $38 million into a couple of wind farms. But then again, we aren’t Google.

Maybe this is their beat Facebook ploy - go greenest, fastest. Or maybe those at Google just want to give back and make up for all the hours we spend plugged into their products. Posting on the Official Google Blog, Rick Needham (Google’s Green Business Operations Manager) writes that the company has been canvassing renewable energy investment opportunities “that can accelerate the deployment of the latest clean energy technology while providing attractive returns to Google and more capital for developers to build additional projects.” Sounds like a win-win really.