[Apple, unlike Microsoft, seems passive]
Jobs: Blu-ray wins HD format war then loses to downloads
,----[ Quote ]
| Blu-ray Disc beat HD DVD, but who cares? Downloads, not physical media, are
| the future of HD content consumption. So said Apple CEO Steve Jobs this week,
| a comment that's a distant echo of allegations made by Transformers director
| Michael Bay last year.
|
| Bay grumbled that the HD format war was, in part, Microsoft's fault, the
| fight being stirred up to worry consumers into not buying eitehr format and
| give the software giant to put movie download and rental services in place.
| Which is, of course, just what Apple launched this week: HD-ready iTunes
| Movie Rentals.
`----
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/01/18/jobs_on_bluray_hddvd/
Microsoft passes the financial burden to the customer. Same with OOXML...
Quote for the day:
"(..) current PC technology is totally sufficient for most office tasks and
consumers desires and (..) any performance bottleneck is not in today’s PC’s
but in today’s COM pipes. This in itself might slow down replacement cycles
and life time shortening until we find true MIPS eating applications - a
priority not only Intel should subscribe to."
--Joachim Kempin
senior vice president for OEM sales, Microsoft
Related:
DVD sales plummet
,----[ Quote ]
| USA Today points out that the the movie download market could be another
| killer. That industry is expected to double from $689 million in 2006 to $1.6
| billion in 2008.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/01/08/dvd-sales-plummet
Microsoft to bypass High Def disc war with Mediaroom on Xbox 360
,----[ Quote ]
| This is why Microsoft is not overly worried about Warner Bros jumping ship
| from the HD DVD that they back, to Blu-Ray high definition disc format. They
| know that in the long run, the physical media will be bypassed.
`----
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16006/1063/
No Winner In Blu-ray, HD DVD Battle
,----[ Quote ]
| Both rival formats seeking to become the high-definition successor to the DVD
| have attracted consumers, and while Blu-ray Disc leads HD DVD, the race is
| far from over.
|
| [...]
|
| "That is the dirty secret no one is talking about," said Bay, director of the
| recent hit film "Transformers." "They want confusion in the market until they
| perfect the digital downloads." Microsoft sells HD movie and TV show
| downloads to its video game consoles through its Xbox Live Marketplace.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/ibd/071224/tech.html?.v=1
Director: Microsoft fueling HD wars
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft is deliberately feeding into the HD disc format wars to ensure that
| its own downloads succeed where physical copies fail, says movie director
| Michael Bay 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. Bay's own Transformers is available
| on disc only in the less popular HD DVD format despite his stated preference
| for Blu-ray. To the director, this is primarily a stalling tactic while
| Microsoft refines its own online-only technology.
`----
http://www.electronista.com/articles/07/12/04/bay.on.microsoft.hd/
Two Studios to Support HD DVD Over Rival
,----[ Quote ]
| But money talks: Paramount and DreamWorks Animation together will receive
| about $150 million in financial incentives for their commitment to HD
| DVD, according to two Viacom executives with knowledge of the deal but
| who asked not to be identified.
|
| The incentives will come in a combination of cash and promotional
| guarantees. Toshiba, for instance, will use the release of “Shrek the
| Third” as part of an HD DVD marketing campaign.
|
| Paramount and DreamWorks Animation declined to comment. Microsoft, the
| most prominent technology company supporting HD DVDs, said it could not
| ^^^^^^^^^
| rule out payment but said it wrote no checks. “We provided no financial
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| incentives to Paramount or DreamWorks whatsoever,” said Amir Majidimehr,
| the head of Microsoft’s consumer media technology group.
`----
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/21/technology/21disney.html?ei=5088&en=d4e1f285e2f41437&ex=1345348800&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1187698143-B5wO3L/F+4r1NyAsum87vQ
Cringely the Unemployable on the fallacy of Web 2.0, Microsoft ruthlessness,
and the CB radio of our decade
,----[ Quote ]
| Davidson: Which software company would you hate to compete against? What
| makes you single them out?
|
| Cringely: Microsoft of course. They have the deepest of pockets, unlimited
| ambition, and they are willing to lose money for years and years just to make
| sure that you don't make any money, either. And they are mean, REALLY mean.
|
| Davidson: Why do you think Microsoft is mean? Are you implying some kind of
| malicious intent rather than just ruthlessness?
|
| Cringely: Maybe "mean" is the wrong word to use for Microsoft. "Ruthless" is
| good. The company is built in the image of Bill Gates and Bill is a guy who
| gets caught-up in the game of business and doesn't typically see its personal
| cost. To use what might seem to be an obscure example, just look at all the
| various partnerships and industry consortia that Microsoft has announced
| through the years that never produced a product or even a usable
| specification. There have been literally dozens of these operations that are
| intended solely to freeze the competition until Microsoft can figure what the
| heck it actually wants to do. To Microsoft its a PR exercise that helps them
| compete but to customers it is just a damned lie. That's ruthless. There are
| plenty of other examples I can give but you get the point. I represent the
| concerns of users, not vendors, and Microsoft doesn't really care about
| users.
`----
http://blog.businessofsoftware.org/2007/07/cringely-the-un.html
|
|
