A couple of weeks ago Google announced their WebM project, which provided a free software implementation of their VP8 video codec and a license to exercise the patents the company held on the software.

With Apples market share growth increasing you really dont see a lot of companies moving from Windows-based computers to Macs. Sure, you will find mixed environments, with Macs predominantly in the creative departments. But, you dont typically see a complete departure from Windows. Well, Google is making the move from Windows based computers to Macs and Linux based computers.

One week after Google open sourced its $124.6m VP8 video codec, Mozilla and Opera have called for its inclusion in the still-gestating HTML5 specification. As it stands, the HTML5 spec does not specify a video codec. Browser makers are free to use any codec they like, and the big names are split between the patent-backed H.264 and the open source Ogg Theora.

At this year's Google I/O developer conference, Google announced the availability of a collection of high quality open source fonts for the web in the Google Font Directory and the Google Font API

Initial announcement, interpretation, and comments about the good news from Google

As you probably know, a Google I/O conference was held today and a lot of blogs said they will announce big things. And big it was: Google officially announced the release of an open source, royalty-free video format called WebM which will be using the VP8 codec Google aquired from On2 as well as Vorbis audio.

Stick a fork in the desktop, it's done! Recently Google demoed a port of Quake II to WebGL and HTML5, showing that even first person shooters are suitable applications to run in the browser. While the tide isn't going to turn all at once, it seems more likely than ever that a browser-based desktop is a viable option and ultimately the way many users will experience all applications.