The much controversial licensing plan for the MPEG-4 standard, which is at the heart of Apple's QuickTime 6, has finally been released by the MPEG LA, a consortium of patent holders that developed technology inside the standard. The plan calls for a cap of $1 million per licensee and no charge for those licensees with under 50,000 implementations. Originally, there was no cap set, causing Apple to balk at releasing QuickTime 6.
Here's why Microsoft is gaining ground and becoming the dominant format: They give the stuff away for free. Any product that encodes to Microsoft format does not include an extra charge for MPEG or Real licensing. Microsoft wants people to use their format because they will make money on the OS. Sure, it's not open and standard by definition, but if everyone uses it, is that not a "standard"?
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