Microsoft denies dumping another Vista feature

VOLISH SPINSTERS moved into damage limitation mode this morning after it appears one of their product managers said the wrong thing down-under.

This morning we reported how Microsoft's senior program manager Steve Riley told Tech.Ed 2006 in Sydney that the 32-bit versions of Vista will not be able to play back BluRay and HD-DVD. He added that this was at the request of Hollywood.

Volish spinsters initially claimed that the story was wrong and requested a transcript of the speech. They later had to admit that Riley was quoted accurately.

Amir Majidimehr, Volish Vice President of the Consumer Media Technology Group popped up on the AVS forum to say that Riley works in a different division and had not been properly informed.

He said that no version of Vista will decide if a piece of content will play back or not and it is up to a particular ISV to determine which environments are suitable for their playback. Not Windows Vista, and not Microsoft.

The real deal is that no version of Windows Vista will make a determination as to whether any given piece of content should play back or not. It was up to the software people to decide if it was going to pay.

Vista will list any unsigned drivers on the system but it will remain up to the independent software vender to decide if playback will be enabled. Majidimehr said nothing had been cut from Windows Vista.

More here. µ