![]() That release extended VLC’s reach beyond École Centrale as the software was adopted by the wider public. Though first developed in 1996, VLC was a breath of fresh air when it was released in 2001 under a GNU General Public license: It was customizable and high-powered, and, above all, it worked. ![]() There was Windows Media Player, a janky and underpowered program sufficient for entry-level users, as well as monstrosities like RealPlayer, which locked users into odd codecs and file formats. In an era before Netflix and YouTube, users had few choices when it came to media software, and none of them were terribly good. Even before the nonprofit began tracking downloads, it was clear that VLC was a runaway success. Since February 2005, it’s been downloaded 3 billion times, according to VideoLAN. As the person overseeing the project and its team, he sets the tone for VLC as a whole. (VideoLAN Client, the original name for the project, is where VLC gets its name.) On the surface, he’s laid-back, casual, and frank, though that belies a steely determination. ![]() Kempf-now the president of VLC’s parent organization, the nonprofit VideoLAN-is the person who helped guide VLC’s journey from student project to ubiquitous software. To students, the project was known as “Network 2000.” To the rest of the world, it was VLC media player. ![]() It included an unusual project: student-run open-source software that had been running on a couple of university servers for seven years. When Jean-Baptiste Kempf joined École Centrale Paris as a student in 2003, he was tasked with helping run the university’s computer network. ![]()
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