Apple lays down multimedia gauntlet
WinInfo | at | by Mike
The relationship between Apple Computer and Microsoft nose-dived again over the weekend when Apple responded to the recent release of Microsoft's Windows Media 9 Series with a scathing attack. Calling Windows Media 9 Series an "anti-standards" release, Apple noted that its own QuickTime 6 technology features compatibility with the already somewhat antiquated MPEG-4 video format, an industry standard of sorts. The Windows Media 9 Series video format, however, far surpasses the quality and speed of MPEG-4, and Apple was likely responding to Microsoft's comparison of Windows Media Video (WMV) 9 to MPEG-4 at the Windows Media 9 Series launch last week, a comparison which doesn't exactly cast Apple's product in the most positive light. Unfortunately for Apple, its anti-Microsoft attack arrived on the same day as a revealing study which shows that Apple is in danger of forever losing the education market to Windows-based PCs.