The Blu-ray vs HD DVD next generation format war rages on: the Blu-ray side has declared that it will not be open to an ultimatum put forward by Hewlett-Packard, whereby the company said that if two technologies, iHD and Mandatory Managed Copy, were not included in Blu-ray's specifications, HP would back Toshiba-led HD-DVD instead. Blu-ray will not entirely comply with HP's wishes, it has emerged.
Blu-ray has announced that it will incorporate Mandatory Managed Copy, but will launch it in Spring 2006, with interactive features based on Sun Microsystems' Java software.
A spokesperson for Blu-ray said that while HP's request is being taken seriously and Mandatory Managed Copy will be part of the Blu-ray format, the Blu-ray group is not willing to delay the launch of the format, and will go forward with the Java-type option.
HP does not seem to find this satisfactory, and has said that it will adopt a more neutral position, as opposed to being an exclusive Blu-ray supporter if this goes ahead. This may lead to HP supporting both HD DVD and Blu-ray.