Friday, 25 August 2006

Microsoft Cuts HD DVD, Blu-ray in 32-bit Vista

Microsoft has revealed at TechEd 2006 in Sydney that 32-bit version of Windows Vista would not play back next generation high-definition protected content, including HD DVD and Blu-ray movies.

The news may come as a disappointment to many Windows users who were hoping to they could use their 32-bit version of Windows to support the HD DVD and Blu-ray movies. Intel's Core Solo and Core Duo chips included in many laptops are not 64-bit compatible.

Senior Program Manager Steve Riley disclosed the news while making a presentation at Tech.Ed. "Any next-generation high definition content will not play in x32 at all," said Riley.

"This is a decision that the Media Player folks made because there are just too many ways right now for unsigned kernel mode code [to compromise content protection]. The media companies asked us to do this and said they don’t want any of their high definition content to play in x32 at all, because of all of the unsigned malware that runs in kernel mode can get around content protection, so we had to do this," he said.