Irrational Decision

Problem: HTML 5 supports <video> tag. However, standard codec that all browser vendors can agree with.

• Opera: Let's do it in Theora.
• MS, Apple: H.264 is industrial standard.
• Mozilla Foundation: H.264 is not free. Theora is free.
• Google: Let me buy out On2 and open it.
• Opera, Mozilla Foundation: OK, let's do it in On2, then.
• MS, Apple: ...

Now, Opera, Firefox and Chrome will support On2. IE and Safari will still only support H.264. We still do not have the common standard codec for the <video> tag.

Question: MS and Apple were not willing to implement Theora, why they will implement On2? Why the hell Google bought out On2 in the first place?