Jerome Rota: the man who betrayed them all
in DivX codec, Jerome Rota
as DivX, DivX codec, Jerome Rota
. In some circles, dubbed the “Judas Iscariot of the Digital Age”, Rota has managed to alienate himself from a significant proportion of the people who assisted him in reaching his lofty position that he enjoys to this day. In an appalling and audacious act of sheer greed and personal vanity, Rota has turned his back on the very people who helped him create his beloved DivX codec, and has monopolised their hard work.
Rota is hailed as an inventor, indeed, THE inventor of DivX. However, beneath this superficial truth lies a much darker and altogether unpleasant reality, in that whilst yes, Rota did have a part to play in the process, he was by no stretch of the imagination the lynchpin upon which the DivX codec stands so resolutely upon.
Starting off with an illegally obtained software program that he “borrowed” from Microsoft, Rota then proceeded to seek to effectively launder his ill gotten toy and then in 2001 released a brand new version of the stolen work. Up until 2001, Rota had been assisted to a very significant degree by the open source community with collaborators from across the world all pitching in in order to ensure the timely completion of the DivX codec.
As the work reached near completion, how did Rota reward his faithful subjects? He closed down access to the sites upon which all work for the DivX 4.0(as it would later become known as) and then proceeded to commercialise work that was not his. It seems that Rota has made a career of profiting from other peoples hard work and products. It would seem that his victims have had the last laugh however, for whilst his precious DivX codec has struggled to keep up with the times, open source options have managed to do just that.
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.