| ironman said: Bill Gates is and EXTREMELY shrewd business man, however, I don't think he would take a huge risk like the one the OP mentioned |
I don't think there was a huge risk. MS turned up at a few HD DVD events, gave modest support compared to the ardent HD DVD backers, and supplied a fairly low cost HD DVD external drive. Hardly a big risk IMHO. For them there was no downside, no risk to their business and the chance to really hurt a key competitor. I'd say backing HD DVD was a very appealling move - and one that for MS was a win/win as whichever way it went they gained something.
In the end they perhaps gained the weaker option, with BR winning the format war but with its adoption slowed considerably while MS consolidated its own position and grew its DD capability.
I do think they would have been happiest to see both formats fail, though. Again, this would only have benefited MS and they would have lost nothing in the process of backing HD DVD for a while.
Try to be reasonable... its easier than you think...
