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Column: Microsoft the Real Loser in HD DVD Defeat
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 at 3:00 PM - by John Martellaro
The real loser in the demise of the HD DVD high-definition disc war wasnt just Toshiba, according to Daniel Dilger at Roughly Drafted on Thursday. It was Microsofts attempt to control the video distribution standards
On the surface, the war between Blu-ray and HD DVD can be viewed as two competing technology formats. HD DVDs are more like the older DVD, are easier to manufacture and the players are less expensive. Blu-ray discs hold more data and can have a higher delivered bit-rate. However, at another level, there were some serious agenda items behind Microsofts backing of the format.
"This wasn�t a simple physical format war like the old VHS and Betamax rivalry; also at stake were the future of video codecs and embedded interactivity development," Mr. Dilger wrote. "This was a battle for software and open markets that went far beyond HD disc movie playback."
The real winners were Java and MPEG4. The losers were Microsofts HDi and VC-1 codec. "Apple, Nintendo, and Sony were all working to push OpenGL against Microsoft�s proprietary DirectX," the author continued. "The video industry was pushing behind the ISO�s MPEG-4 H.264 and AAC, aided by the popularity of Apple�s iTunes, rather than the proprietary WMA and WMV/VC-1 codecs Microsoft was working to advance. The embedded industry favored Java over Microsoft�s latest proprietary efforts to own interactivity. HD-DVD died because the industry collectively worked to kill it as a proprietary monster that would enslave users, studios, and developers to Microsoft�s software. It wasn�t a simple disc format struggle."
"The death of HD-DVD says more about Microsoft and its future than the general media seems to recognize. It�s not a format war, its a culture war between industry players working to advance the state of the art collectively in partnerships, and one company working to own everything while contributing very little," Mr. Dilger concluded.
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