Comment mp3 Memories ... (Score 1) 306
I remember meeting Karlheinz Brandenburg (Picture here - he's second from the right). Those guys over at Fraunhofer IIS really did something good.
He was the hard core engineer type; complete with powerful glasses, and greasy hair. He seemed tired of all the politicking. He was probably frustrated that so many people were using mp3 and Fraunhofer wasn't seeing a dime. Maybe he was frustrated by lack of credit; I'm not sure. That genie was out of the bottle, and it wasn't going back in.
Anyway, a younger, less tactful member of our group, who felt strongly about non-proprietary codecs was talking with Mr. Brandenburg, and, well - the guy just went ballistic. I remember the words "vy don't you start a company, and ve'll see how you do!" shouted loudly and with a good bit of spittle. Hee hee. I'll never forget that look. That young buck was like a deer in the headlights. I was really surprised that someone with that kind of fame (well, ok, nobody knows who this guy is. But co-inventor of mp3 gets you major geek points in my book) would lose his cool like that. Poor guy must've been under pressure.
The look on my colleague's face as he staggered back over to us was worth it, though.
