Dirac: Open source media player

This month the BBC has been giving low-key demonstrations of an open-source video compression project that could see Windows Media Player seriously rivalled.

Named Dirac, the codec is still in the alpha stage and isn;t expected to be available as a beta until Autumn 2005. Founded three years ago by lead developer Dr Thomas Davies, Dirac is one of those projects you will definitely want to keep an eye on, as the open source movement continues to strengthen itself on the home PC and internet.