I don't believe Cisco ever indicated that this move is "altruistic." It is rather, a very adept strategic move with Cisco thinking at least 2 or 3 steps ahead. VP9 adoption is increasing. Cisco certainly has an interest in not having it be a defacto standard that they are forced to adopt, with Google determining whether or not licensing is free and controling it so that Google products are optimized over any others using it. Cisco would LOVE to force Google into submitting VP9 and future enhancements to an open source forum to derail this, or at least slow its progress. Suprisingly unmentioned in responses to this post is where Microsoft stands on all of this. Microsoft, along with Cisco, has no intention of being forced to adopt a Google "defacto" standard that could become chargeable and potentially limits their products. They have made it known that they are bringing their own version of WebRTC to market instead. This move by Cisco is also a move to isolate Microsoft's approach. I can't imagine MS licensing their software for free, much less submitting it to an open source forum. This is a brilliant move by Cisco that leverages their world-renowned expertise in codec development. It will, in fact, create a much more level playing field for broad-based video adoption, while driving millions in Cisco Unified Communication and video enabled networks.