Microsoft consultant accuses Blu-ray of unorthodox tactics

face=Verdana>Warren Leiberfarb, former chief of Warner Home
Video, is  target=_new>considered to be the man behind DVD, at least the vision of what
it could mean to the movie industry. Although he did not invent the format, he
is often accredited for seeing it’s potential. We can tell by reading a bit
about him, that he is a man that also is not afraid to speak his mind. At the
moment, he is working as a consultant for Microsoft and Toshiba, staunch
supporters of the HD-DVD format.

Several days ago, according to this report
over at target=_new>Gamasutra, he unleashed his thoughts concerning the present
Blu-ray and HD-DVD battle and really gave Sony a tongue lashing. It is
interesting to read, but considering he was standing on a box of soap provided
by Microsoft, it kind of makes him look a bit foolish when he talks
about questionable business tactics.

He accused Sony of using methods
from the “Art of War” in order to ensure their success in the battle to bring
Blu-ray to market. This book according to  href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195014766/qid=1134394347/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-1175045-9474325?s=books&v=glance&n=283155"
target=_new>Amazon.coms editorial review, is the “Swiss army knife of
military theory”. Indeed, even in the short synopsis there, we can
read a line that fits Leiberfarbs complaints: “Lure them in with the
prospect of gain, take them by confusion”. He claims that if you read the
book, you will clearly see that Sony is using strategies found within it’s
pages. He stated during a keynote address to the Perspectives in European Video
conference on December 7, that Sony has a history of behavior that
brings it’s enemies together in a group only to leave them empty handed. Strong
words, but he was just warming up!

> src="http://www.cdfreaks.com/contentimages/newsimages/1361184051" align=right border=0>Lieberfarb argued that the home video industry is being sucked into the next-generation console war between the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, against their wills. “The subplot here is that if I put Blu-ray in PlayStation and I don’t license it to Microsoft for Xbox and I get all the studios to only publish in PlayStation, I’ll beat Microsoft in the next-generation games space,” he said. “What we’ve been sucked into is PlayStation versus Xbox.” “They did the same thing to Matsushita and Betamax, they did the same thing to Matsushita on compact disc, they did the same thing to Matsushita on the digital video camcorder,” said Lieberfarb. “At their core, they compete in some kind of samurai way that I consider closer to kabuki, which I have never understood. I know it isn’t the way we compete in the West.”

Source: Various