Cisco, through OpenH264, did exactly that.
Just as the song admits “I’ve lost my way,” the tech industry admitted that the patent system had created a broken landscape for video. The flaw wasn't H.264 itself—it was that a foundational, essential technology was locked behind legal fees, hurting small developers and open-source projects like Firefox. The "shame" was that the open web couldn't natively do video without legal risk.
A better tech company doesn’t just build a walled garden; it opens a gateway. A better engineer doesn’t just optimize for themselves; they optimize for the common user. And a better internet is one where essential infrastructure—like video codecs—is not a weapon or a toll road, but a public utility.
Cisco didn’t just complain. They did all they could . They spent millions in engineering and legal fees to create OpenH264. They didn't own the patents, but they paid the licensing so you wouldn't have to. This is the technological equivalent of "I will grow through this pain." Cisco took the financial pain of royalties upon themselves to build a common good.
"I'm doing all I can / To be a better man."
So next time you seamlessly join a video call or watch a clip in your browser without a single pop-up asking for a license, remember the quiet, humble codec that made it possible. And perhaps hum a line from Robbie Williams:
Enter Cisco in 2013. They did something unprecedented: they released a binary module of their own H.264 encoder and decoder under a BSD-like open-source license, they paid the patent royalties for anyone who downloaded that binary module. For all practical purposes, OpenH264 made H.264 free and legally safe for the entire world to use. The Analogy: How OpenH264 is the "Better Man" How does a video codec relate to a pop song? Through the three verses of responsibility, improvement, and enabling others.
Better Man Openh264 !full! Review
Cisco, through OpenH264, did exactly that.
Just as the song admits “I’ve lost my way,” the tech industry admitted that the patent system had created a broken landscape for video. The flaw wasn't H.264 itself—it was that a foundational, essential technology was locked behind legal fees, hurting small developers and open-source projects like Firefox. The "shame" was that the open web couldn't natively do video without legal risk. better man openh264
A better tech company doesn’t just build a walled garden; it opens a gateway. A better engineer doesn’t just optimize for themselves; they optimize for the common user. And a better internet is one where essential infrastructure—like video codecs—is not a weapon or a toll road, but a public utility. Cisco, through OpenH264, did exactly that
Cisco didn’t just complain. They did all they could . They spent millions in engineering and legal fees to create OpenH264. They didn't own the patents, but they paid the licensing so you wouldn't have to. This is the technological equivalent of "I will grow through this pain." Cisco took the financial pain of royalties upon themselves to build a common good. The "shame" was that the open web couldn't
"I'm doing all I can / To be a better man."
So next time you seamlessly join a video call or watch a clip in your browser without a single pop-up asking for a license, remember the quiet, humble codec that made it possible. And perhaps hum a line from Robbie Williams:
Enter Cisco in 2013. They did something unprecedented: they released a binary module of their own H.264 encoder and decoder under a BSD-like open-source license, they paid the patent royalties for anyone who downloaded that binary module. For all practical purposes, OpenH264 made H.264 free and legally safe for the entire world to use. The Analogy: How OpenH264 is the "Better Man" How does a video codec relate to a pop song? Through the three verses of responsibility, improvement, and enabling others.