While it's not strictly germane to our usual subject matter here at AtAT, we've just got to take a little time out to do a happy dance on Divx's grave. That's right; as of today, Divx is history. Kaput. Deceased. Relegated to History's Dustbin of Bad Ideas™. The Divx web site now displays nothing more than a press release about how Digital Video Express, LP (the evil collective who tried to destroy modern civilization with their foul invention) is "discontinuing operations" and the technology will be phased out over a two-year period.

For those of you who are blissfully unaware of what Divx is (er, was), here's the basic gist: imagine you've got a DVD player. When you buy a regular DVD, it's like buying a higher-quality, longer-lasting videotape-- you pay for it, bring it home, and watch it whenever you want, as often as you want. Now imagine that you go out and buy a copy of "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer" on disc because you don't want to miss any of those subtle nuances. Well, if that disc happens to be Divx, then when you pop it into your "Divx-enhanced" player, a built-in modem dials out and charges you $3.25 for each viewing period. Think of it as pay-per-view that you still have to go to the store to buy. And even leaving aside the whole "pay for each viewing" issue, there's the additional joy of knowing that the Divx people are tracking your viewing habits. Sure, it's probably no different from your video store logging every movie you rent, but the prospect of a video player in one's own home actually dialing out, reporting one's viewing choice, and charging money to one's account was just too much for many consumers to handle.

Hence, Divx has gone the way of the dodo. There's a good Wired article that examines the likeliest reasons for the technology's demise-- and discusses the sheer joy many people are feeling now that it's officially gone. As for those of you who jumped on the Divx bandwagon, you might be interested to hear that you're eligible for a $100 cash rebate to reimburse you for having spent extra on a technology that's been canned. Can we all breathe a little freer now?