Jerome Rota – Copyright Hero
in Copyright, Jerome Rota
as copyright, DivX, Jerome Rota
To some, Jerome Rota is something of a folk hero, a legend of the modern era who managed to finally drive home the message to increasingly oppressive corporate tactics: we can beat you, and your insignificant copyright protections. To others, he is the man who ended up becoming the very thing that he had initially fought against and despised, branding him a perjurer and hypocrite. The truth, like in any other such situation is entirely relative, and so it falls to us to make up our own minds as to what version of the facts we wish to believe.
The name Jerome Rota is synonymous with the now (in)famous DivX video codec and with good reason: it is Rota who was the mastermind behind the initial conception and subsequent development of the DivX codec. Originally, the DivX codec was nothing more than a skilfully (not to mention illicitly) acquired extract of the Microsoft MPEG-4 Version 2 video codec, with a few modifications implemented at Mr Rota’s discretion.
As news of his accomplishment travelled, more and more software developers provided their input and creative talents towards the enterprise. In an ironic turn of events, these contributions ended up surpassing the power and capabilities of DivX ;-) 3.11 Alpha codec , the codec which Mr Rota had devised as the copy of the Microsoft codec. The vast majority of these contributions allowed a great deal more functionality than the DivX ;-) 3.11 Alpha codec.
Realising that his beloved DivX ;-) 3.11 Alpha codec could be harnessed for a significant monetary gain, Mr Rota decided that he would form his own company, and then market his own codec, which he duly dubbed DivX 4.0 and which was retailed as a commercial product, i.e. fees were levied for it usage. To the anger of many, the DivX 4.0 codec was actually the aggregate of the collective efforts of thousands of dedicated and skilled software developers, who then saw their work snatched away and then sealed from their grasp forever by virtue of copyright law.
DivX Codec – First Steps
In a prime example of the student surpassing the master, the DivX codec initially began its life as a legitimate video codec package released by the world’s leading software company, Microsoft. An innovative and inquisitive French software cracker by the name of Jerome Rota was somewhat disgruntled with the limited features on offer with the Microsoft video codec. In a single masterstroke, he managed to not only reverse engineer the codec for himself, but then proceeded to expand and improve upon it.
Emboldened and inspired by Rota’s evident skill and ability, shortly after the news of Rota’s deed had been broadcasted there was a plethora of different skilled hobbyists across the world all determined to make compact, lightweight and efficient plugins and expansions to the basic DivX codec (or DivX ;-) 3.11 Alpha codec as it was known as back then).
Just three years after he had made his mark on the software industry, Rota then established his own software development company, and so the founding of the company was not the only fresh start that Rota introduced. Rather than continue retailing and distributing the DivX ;-) 3.11 Alpha codec, especially given that it was for all intents and purposes an illegally acquired and distributed copy of a legitimate software program, Rota designed what he called DivX 4.0.
To some cynics, both in 2001 and even to this day contend that DivX 4.0 codec was nothing more than the DivX ;-) 3.11 Alpha codec with a new moniker. However, the key difference here is that the DivX 4.0 codec was designed entirely anew and no longer relied on the input of the Microsoft based codec thereby meaning that the DivX 4.0 codec could safely be promoted and distributed without fear of legal backlash or censure. Thus seemingly small change to the name, would herald in a significant amount of further improvement for the codec.
DivX codec overview
The DivX codec quickly captured the hearts and minds (not to mention wallets and balance sheets) of webmasters across the globe, due to the fact that the DivX codec manages to achieve what was previously believed to be impossible:
1) It allows for a highly efficient compression process which shrinks large video files into extremely small sizes.
2) It achieve #1 whilst maintaining an astonishing clear and crisp quality of audio as well as video content.
What made the DivX codec so special when it first came out was that it actually managed to accomplish what so many others had before it, tried to do with little to no success. Sadly, many such codecs forced the user to make a stark choice between either quality, or the size of the file in question.
Just to clear up an issue that time and time again manages to catch people out, the term “DivX” is used to refer to both the DivX codec, and also to a media system which was designed to revolutionise the way in which copyright access was permitted, but which subsequently died a death.
The DivX codec was the brainchild of a French software cracker by the name of Jerome Rota who as the story goes, was extremely frustrated whenever he attempted to use the MPEG-4 Version 3 video codec released by Microsoft and was especially irked by virtue of the fact that the Microsoft video codec was not compatible with the later editions of media programs such as Microsoft Windows Media player.
The major Achilles Heel of the Microsoft video codec was that it did not actually enable MPEG-4 files to be loaded or used in conjunction with this and so Rota with the assistance of a fellow software cracker, decided that it was high time to remedy this.