By Rachel Chalmers
Microsoft Corp has formed a unit to develop and market streaming audio and video over the net. The new Streaming Media Division will be linked to the Consumer Windows and Business & Enterprise divisions. Its job will be to build digital media delivery products for Windows and future operating systems.
By dedicating an entire unit to the cause, Microsoft broadcasts its intention to go head-to-head with its fellow Seattle startup, former investment vehicle and present-day bitter rival (aren’t family fights the worst?), RealNetworks Inc. But Real won’t comment on Microsoft’s announcement. Executives say it’s an internal Microsoft affair, and that for them to respond would be inappropriate.
The antagonists should beware. Microsoft and Real no longer have the streaming media market to themselves, and their conflict may divert their attention from genuine threats. Apple Computer Corp dived into the market earlier this week (CI No 3,644) – a move many saw as an eleventh-hour bid to re-establish Apple as the top player in multimedia.
Nor is Apple alone. High Speed Net Solutions Inc claims its wavelet-oriented compression is actually better than what Real and Microsoft have to offer. You’ll notice a smoother, more fluid motion versus the competition, says CEO and president Michael Kim, this is largely due to the superiority of wavelet technology versus MPEG. In other words, standards be damned! That’s the sort of rhetoric that made Microsoft the giant-killer it is today.
