John C. Dvorak from PC Magazine has an interesting column about the history of the DivX Codec.
It is interesting how the movie industry initially backed this initiative and now it has turned into a codec that is being used against them. This appears to be a sign of the sea change that is occurring in film distribution, and the bottom line is that more power is being taken away from the movie studios, who can no longer rely on a well-defined set of technical specifications for the products that they produce. It all seems to point to decentralization or at least a major redefinition of Hollywood.
