Microsoft Fueling HD Wars For Own Benefit?

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday December 5, 2007 @02:23AM from the well-they-ain't-running-a-charity-over-there dept.

DaveyJJ writes "According to Transformers' director Michael Bay, in a story over on Electronista, Microsoft is deliberately feeding into the HD disc format wars to ensure that its own downloads succeed where physical copies fail, he says in a response to a question posed through his official forums. The producer contends that Microsoft is writing "$100 million dollar checks" to movie studios to ensure HD DVD exclusives that hurt the overall market regardless of the format's actual merit or its popularity, preventing any one format from gaining a clear upper hand."

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Re:Because heaven knows.... by Serge_Tomiko · 2007-12-05 03:28 · Score: 5, Informative

Blu ray is NOT a Sony format, anymore than the CD is a Sony format. They are the dominant member of the industry consortium that developed Blu Ray, and one of the original developers. Microsoft would never have to license Blu Ray from Sony, they would license it from the consortium just as with the regular CD.

What Microsoft does NOT like about Blu Ray is that it requires a java VM.