I have a PC configured as a video jukebox. I have 1000+ DVD's and rummaging thru them to find a particular movie I want is a pain. Dammed DVD carosels are slow and indexing them is a rediculous. I have a 480p plasma screen so current DVD's will do for me. Until I upgrade to a 1080p video system there is no need for either HD-DVD nor Blu-Ray. When I do upgrade my TV to a 1080p system, the deciding factor is which one will allow me to have a video jukebox.

I've never been an M$ fan, but this does fit with their historical pattern. Except for the XBox (and I doubt there would be an XBox if some other hardware company would have come out with a PC-based gaming console), M$ has always been a software company, not a hardware company. They tend to support hardware standards that are as open and flexible as possible (they were happy to support PC cloners against IBM, they would rather there be more than just one mp3 player, etc) in order to create the largest market for their software as possible.

Of course, they have no interest in open *software* standards, but that's another issue.

So, in this case, it makes sense for them to support greater consumer flexibility, since that makes M$ products (Windows Media Center and the various file and compression formats they support) more appealing to consumers.

M$ also recognizes that most people prefer to pay half the price for something that's 75% as good (witness VHS versus Beta and PC versus Mac), which also probably leads them to support HD-DVD over Blu-Ray.

In other words, I really don't think M$ is supporting HD-DVD because it's not Sony. I think that if Blu-Ray were cheaper and more flexible, M$ would support it.

so i can make a copy of windows vista, when it comes out, right?

good ol hd-dvd windows vista bloatware.

You gotta fight-

[boom, boom]

for your right-

[boom, boom]

to CO-PY!!!

"Don't copy that Floppy!"

If you remember where this is from. You are officially old-school. ;)

"In the age of chaos, two fractions fight for the domination of the living room!"

"In the Kingdom of Sony is the mighest Kingdom in the land of the Internet is lead by the wise and just King Stringer. The people of the Sony have defended their land for many generations....."

"Nobody knew where these creatures came from or know the terror they would bring. By using the dark arts of society and moonlight the Microsoft Hordes are pose to rule all the lands of the Internet"

"The contest of these two powerful fractions will be decided by you(consumer)"

"Welcome to the world of Media Wars."

Vote with your wallet.

This is total BS. MS is supporting HD-DVD because Blue-Ray is Sony's baby. MS is scared Sony is going to win the living room with the Playstation platform. The PS2 outsold the Xbox by almost 4 to 1 world-wide. The PS2 is currently outselling the Xbox by around 1.5 to 1 on a monthly basis here in the USA. That means the Playstation brand is gaining over the Xbox brand every day. The Xbox failed to achieve the sales that MS had hoped. MS is scared.

Sony is going to be pushing Blue-Ray big tie with the PS3 next year. MS sees Blue-Ray as part of Sony’s strategy to help the PS3 win the living room and become that “all-in-one” set top box that people have been predicating for years. Don’t forget that both the Playstation brand and Xbox brand are Trojan Horses in this regard. MS hopes that by pushing HD-DVD they will help stale the PS3 and give the X360 a chance of becoming a market leader. It’s as simple as that.

You guys do realize that this “managed copy” that MS is talking about with HD-DVD will be HEAVILY DRM’ed right? You also do realize they planned it from the start to allow content providers to charge you a “small” fee for the right to copy it over to other media playing devices (while they will claim this more then likely won’t happen, I wouldn’t put it past Hollywood at all to demand such once the next generation media format takes off and gains a real foothold). HD-DVD is no more your friend in this regard then Blue-Ray is. Plus Sony has simply not made up their minds about using similar “managed copy” technology. They still may.

I’m not defending either technology here. They both have advantages and disadvantages. I’m just pointing out what a bullsh*t PR move this is on MS’s part. It all boils down to two large greedy companies desperate to gain control over your living rooms engaging in a pissing match.

Persoanlly I predict that Blue-Ray has already won this match (they have waaay too many of their ducks in a row not too at this point). In a few years no one will believe HD-DVD will win. It just sucks that we will have to live another format war till this happens.

And now to respond to the actual topic.....

Obviously this has ZERO to do w/protecting anyone's right to copy anything. This has EVERYTHING to do with Xbox vs. PS3. Gates needs to protect the 360 at all costs. He knows that if PS3 wins and Blu-ray makes its way into peoples' homes through the "back door" so to speak, HD-DVD, and the 360, are in danger.

Gee, where are all the dorks who use the "M$" thing now? Besides hunkered down in their parents' basements, I mean...

"Well, the key issue here is that the protection scheme under Blu-ray is very anti-consumer and there's not much visibility of that."

What a fukcin bureaucracy! I guess everything that MS is DRMing is pro consumer too.

#3,

No idea how this is going to work in reality, but given the fact that many next-gen copy protection systems will be tied to hardware (and that hardware *will* be supported under Linux), it seems possible that hardware-based copy protection could actually smooth the way for a legal Linux software player. So long as the proper hardware is enabled and functional, the audio / video industry has a lot less reason to care what OS you're playing back on.

#6,

The fact that your #1 quote is dragged over twenty years out of context in order to supposedly prove something throws your entire list into doubt. The only thing I'm convinced of based on your Top Ten is that you aren't interested in anything but spouting an agenda.

#9,
I don't go to www.microsoft.com to read accurate reports about Linux, and I don't go to Newsforge to read fair and unbiased reporting on Microsoft. I don't read about P4 performance on intel.com (unless I'm attempting to verify a result), and I don't take AMD's PR as gospel either.

Do I trust Microsoft to have the consumer's best interest at heart? Hardly. But I trust them at least marginally more than I trust the MPAA & RIAA. Likewise, I trust MS at least marginally more than Sony, given the latter's history of creating and pumping its highly-proprietary and restricted hardware standards that no one else uses or likes.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter to me whether or not Microsoft *really* likes giving consumers Managed Copy--what matters is that at least some form of fair use is mandated into whatever standard is eventually adopted. And if I'm willing to give Microsoft, Intel, etc a bit of slack, it's because they've lined up on the side of consumer freedom--even if they have their own sets of ulterior motives.

I wonder, with Gates' unusual bluntness et al., if that's actually the real reason or just a smokescreen. Personally I still think the reason is that Blu-ray == Sony and Microsoft wants to stifle the PS3's role, as the household digital media center hub, as much as possible.

With all those billions invested in the Xbox and the potential market it could represent as a universal hub in every household, I doubt that protecting my "right to copy" is Microsoft's priority. Microsoft has shown time and time again that its customer�s priorities are seldom its own unless it brings in more money..

Is this the same "kinder and gentler" Microsoft that developed the TCPA ( http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/tcpa-faq.html ) to create an intellectual property war zone within the memory space of every consumer's PC? Personally, I think they're panicking after seeing Paramount run to Blu-Ray, which is another financial victory chalked up for Sony.

In tradition to David Letterman...Top 10 quotes of Gates.

Number 10 : Efficiency...
=> "Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There's a lot more I could be doing on a Sunday morning."

Number 9 : The PC user...
=> "Let's face it, the average computer user has the brain of a Spider Monkey."

Number 8 : Looks are everything...
=> "If you can't make it good, at least make it look good."

Number 7 : Innovation...
=> "The best way to prepare [to be a programmer] is to write programs, and to study great programs that other people have written. In my case, I went to the garbage cans at the Computer Science Center and fished out listings of their operating system."

Number 6 : Chinese computer users...
=> "As long as they are going to steal it [software], we want them to steal ours. They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade."

Number 5 : Money...
=> "There's nobody getting rich [by] writing software."

Number 4 : Popularity...
=> "There are people who don't like capitalism, and people who don't like PCs. But there's no-one who likes the PC who doesn't like Microsoft."

Number 3 : Love...
=> "People everywhere love Windows."

Number 2 : About Microsoft...
=> "Microsoft is not about greed. It's about innovation and fairness."

And finally, Number 1 : System Resources
=> "640k should be enough for anybody."

Read between the lines here. MS is saying to Blu-Ray "we will support you if you implement this in your spec".

MS support for Blu-Ray would be another nail in the coffin for HD-DVD. With Warner and Paramount waffling and very likely to announce official support for Blu-Ray very soon, the format war may be over before it begins.

Personally, the ability to make copies of HD-DVDs/Blu-Ray doesn't matter much to me....I'd rather they relax their stance on HD video over analog connections, as I'm one of the 1/3 of HDTV owners without a HDCP compliant input.

I've read that Gates is backing HD_DVD because it's more compatible with Microsoft's plans for getting into television and video in a big, big way. I doubt concern for the consumer has much to do with it.

They both suck, remarkably. Anything that limits the number of copies isn't going to work on Linux, just as there is still no (legal) open source method to play DVDs on Linux.