A Monday announcement by the two companies will lead to their joint effort at developing next-generation DVD players.
The two technology companies further extend the patent cross-licensing agreement they embraced in April of this year by announcing research and development of high-definition DVD players together.
This announcement of the expansion of the relationship came straight from the respective tops of both companies. Bill Gates, chairman and chief software architect of Microsoft, and Atsutoshi Nishida, president and CEO of Toshiba, discussed the project in Tokyo.
“This agreement demonstrates our desire to share our innovations with other companies in ways that promote the spread of new ideas – and benefit customers by accelerating the development of exciting new products,” said Mr. Gates.
Those exciting new products will be HD-DVD players, using Microsoft Windows CE technology. The players, which will support Toshiba’s blue laser format for high-definition DVD content, will include the Windows technology.
Also, the two companies will work together on research and development of products featuring iHD. A new format for interactivity, iHD will be based on Toshiba’s HD-DVD technology as well.
“We look forward to extending the scope of our relations to encompass HD DVD, a major driver of the next-generation consumer electronics,” said Mr. Nishida. Toshiba and Sony have been involved in a three-plus year long battle over the future of blue laser DVD support.
Sony wants to see its Blu-ray technology become the blue laser standard, while Toshiba has maintained its HD-DVD technology offers a less expensive upgrade path for DVD manufacturers. Neither side has budged on their positions.
The iHD spec was developed by Microsoft and Walt Disney Studios. It represents an advanced interactivity standard and was demonstrated earlier this year by Sonic Solutions at a trade show in April.
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
