Emmett Plant has written an open letter to Thomson Multimedia, who own the patent on MP3 and have suddenly started charging money for people who make MP3 decoders. Emmett's one of the people behind the patent-free Ogg Vorbis MP3-alternative format, and he couldn't be happier:
Thank you for providing the impetus for millions of people and hundreds of companies to give an open, free alternative a try. We love it when people get a chance to evaluate technology, and we've been happy to present them with a superior alternative to mp3. If it weren't for the removal of the free-decoder exemption, it might have taken even longer for people to try it out.
Thank you for setting a precedent in providing free technology until the world has become hooked on it, and then charging a lot of money afterwards. This isn't a new idea, but we're glad that you've taken a stand to ensure that this practice will continue as long as vested interests control patents on multimedia. We hope that you'll continue in this pattern with MPEG-4, since we'll be releasing a free MPEG-4 competitor next summer.
(via Happiest Geek on Earth)
