SirDavidGuy and celtic_druid used our newssubmit to tell us that the development of XviD is currently stopped.
XVID is an open source MPEG-4 video research project, founded by the German student Michael Militzer in August 2001 to continue the efforts of the former OpenDivX project. XVID publishes its software under the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL). According the XVID's web site, the REALMagic MPEG-4 Video Codec software from Sigma Designs is in violation of the GNU General Public License and copyright law by including an illegal copy of XVID code in the software.
2002/08/22 - The XVID development team has made a unanimous decision to cease project development. We will return when Sigma Designs' stops infringing the copyrights of XVID authors. As some of you had already assumed, Sigma Designs' REALmagic MPEG-4 Video Codec software includes large amounts of XVID project code. Since Sigma Designs' refuses to comply with the terms of the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL) and moreover claims sole ownership of the REALmagic MPEG-4 Video Codec software, Sigma Designs' is violating the GNU General Public License and copyright law. |
We have been in contact with Sigma Designs' since July and were hopeful that this matter would be settled quietly. Their refusal to cooperate has forced us to publicly request Sigma Designs' to comply with the terms of the GNU GPL, or immediately cease REALmagic MPEG-4 Video Codec distribution. Feel free to ask Sigma Designs' for the REALmagic MPEG-4 Video Codec source code, they are obliged to provide you a copy. The official press release and a line-by-line code comparison of the REALmagic and XVID binaries are available for download below.
Our decision to publicly accuse Sigma Designs' and halt XVID development was difficult to make, please respect it. We simply do not believe XVID development should continue under the current circumstances. The XVID development team would like to thank all of our visitors and supporters for all your help and encouraging comments in the past. You really made XVID development a lot of fun!
Also Jordan Greenhall, co-founder and CEO of DivXNetworks, offered this statement in support of XVID: "The DivX team is very saddened by these events. XVID is an exciting open-source codec project that has carried on the spirit of OpenDivX development efforts. We strongly support the XVID team in their struggle to protect the integrity of their project. We also want to formally announce that DivXNetworks has no relationship with Sigma Designs whatsoever, and no product designed or produced by Sigma Designs is DivX compatible."
At the moment the XviD website is updated with information that Sigma Design has now published the source codes, an official response of XviD has however not been given yet...
Source: XviD.org
