Google keeps pushing for open source technology

Google announced this morning that the next versions of its Google Chrome browser, will only be compatible with “fully open source technologies. ” If Chrome continues to increase its browser market share, its influence on developers will also increase. Google says that this way developers  will be encouraged to create a more open Internet.

But there are those who don’t agree , and instead think that it will simply complicate the already controversial migration to HTML5.

Google’s explains in its Chromium project blog the reasons which led to this decision:

“We expect even more rapid innovation in the web media platform in the coming year and are focusing our investments in those technologies that are developed and licensed based on open web principles. To that end, we are changing Chrome’s HTML5 <video> support to make it consistent with the codecs already supported by the open Chromium project. Specifically, we are supporting the WebM (VP8) and Theora video codecs, and will consider adding support for other high-quality open codecs in the future. Though H.264 plays an important role in video, as our goal is to enable open innovation, support for the codec will be removed and our resources directed towards completely open codec technologies.”