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#21
There is no difference between the 2 apps. HEVC has a patent licensing pool, they need to get paid.
The patent licensing fee is paid by the "device manufacturer" (i.e. Acer or HP or Dell) in the free version. The paid $0.99 version is paid by you. In both cases, Microsoft doesn't want to pay for anything.
How come MacOS users doesn't have to pay for it? Apple is a hardware manufacturer, so they are the same as the free version of "device manufacturer". Apple paid for the patent licensing fee in the hardware.
How come VLC and other open source programs can play HEVC? Because open source projects don't have money and is "judgment proof". You sued them and they don't have money to pay for damages so that's why patent holders don't sue them.