Microsoft has spent their time and money creating something “useless,” Justin Powell writes for The NET Results Blog. It’s a new digital photo format called “Windows Media Photo.”
“In case the folks in Redmond weren’t aware, we already have JPEG for Internet and consumer applications, plus RAW and TIFF for professional applications. Adobe Systems even threw their hat in the ring to create the Digital Negative (DNG) format for digital cameras and professional imaging workflows and lest we forget the essentially defunct PhotoCD format from Kodak. There’s also other raster image formats with varying degrees of usefulness: GIF, BMP, PICT, etc.,” Powell writes.
“I’m not exactly sure why Microsoft believes we needed another digital image format. I haven’t personally heard anyone complaining about the available formats or begging for Microsoft to step in and save them. Could it be that Microsoft didn’t control these other formats and likewise couldn’t make them exclusive to Windows users? Microsoft’s new Windows Media Photo will work in Vista and XP, but there’s no mention of making the format available to older versions of Windows or other operating systems,” Powell writes. “Microsoft calls the overall functionality ‘digital memories,’ but they didn’t mention that you’ll forget everything if you switch to a non-Microsoft product. No thanks, I’ll stick with JPEG and RAW.”
Full article here.
“Microsoft will need to get players such as Adobe Systems and Apple Computer on board to win over the graphics professionals, he noted. A major unknown is licensing, which Microsoft has not yet addressed,” Joris Evers reports for CNET News. “Windows Media Photo was developed by the same people who worked on Windows Media Video and Audio… Microsoft has finished the first official version of the “porting kit” software needed to build support for Windows Media Photo into devices and platforms other than Windows. It should be available soon.”
Full article here.
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