We've been looking for some new paper to turn here at the Engadget HD offices, and it looks like Marshall Phelps' "Burning the Ships" may be our next purchase. Penned by a top Microsoft lawyer and co-authored by David Kline, the book lays out details on how Microsoft had
decided to sink right along with Toshiba even as
HD DVD took its
last dying breath. Apparently Microsoft pledged its
unconditional support for the format in hopes of winning a rare cross-license deal with a large Japanese electronics firm.
CNET reports that at the time, winning such a deal with Tosh was "key for it in its efforts to convince large companies, even those with broader patent portfolios, to cross-license Microsoft's technology." The writeup tucked away in the read link is pretty interesting for those intrigued by
deep, dark secrets of the past, so head on down if that's you.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ottozero @ Mar 28th 2009 10:19PM
Together for ever.......... M$ WHY COULDN'T you have supported SEGA with SHENMUE 3 like that...you bastards..... ahem... {wipes away tears}
DrXym @ Mar 29th 2009 6:19AM
Unconditional support?
As an observer it looked to me more like Microsoft was hoping to just play two rival physical formats off against each other for as long as possible and were hedging.
Unconditional support would have meant putting HD DVD drives into the XBox 360 when it actually mattered, rather than some ugly external player. I bet that Toshiba asked for it - BEGGED for it. In one fell swoop they would have negated the major selling point enjoyed by Sony. It's not like they didn't have an opportunity to do it either since the Elite would have been a perfect premium console to include the drive. There were rumours before CES2008 that if WB had gone red, that a Toshiba 360 would have appeared but that was far too late.
Instead it looked more like arm's length support - close enough to have a stake if it succeeded but not so close that the 360 brand went down with the HD DVD ship if it didn't.
Snake Robot Podium @ Mar 31st 2009 12:36PM
Michael Bay's conspiracy theories: only kinda true?