Roughly Drafted is a good source of computer info.
The editorial stance has one foot in marketing, one foot in engineering. For example, with regard to the disk formats, Blu-Ray and HD-DVD:
To deliver HD video, the DVD Forum determined that a new disc format would be required to deliver greater bandwidth and capacity over the existing DVD. The two candidates advanced both planned to use a new generation of blue-violet lasers to pack much more data into the same sized disc:
- Sony outlined plans for a consumer version of its high end Professional Disc for Data, adapted to use the ISO’s MPEG-4.
- Toshiba presented the idea of a DVD mechanism retooled with a blue-violet laser called Advanced Optical Disc.
In 2003, it was expected Sony wouldn’t be able to complete its new Blu-ray before 2005, but Toshiba said it could deliver AOD by 2004. The DVD Forum selected AOD as the official successor to DVD, and subsequently renamed it to HD-DVD.
Microsoft, worried that the new HD formats would eclipse its DVD+WMV plan, hoped to get both groups to adopt its iHD for interactive menus and use its WMV video codecs. After finding resistance to using its proprietary WMV over the standard MPEG-4, Microsoft had the SMPTE publish its Windows Media 9 codec under the name VC-1.Microsoft now humorously refers to Windows Media 9 as “an implementation of the VC-1 standard.” The specification for both HD-DVD and Blu-ray require players to support both MPEG-4 and VC-1, and movies can be encoded in either. Most HD-DVDs use VC-1, and most Blu-ray movies use MPEG.
The point is that Microsoft is trying to control the distribution of media and is using the codec, VC-1, or Windows Media 9, to do it.