Windows Vista supports HD DVD playback, but not Blu-ray

As I have said various times before, Vista will support HD DVD and Microsoft is working to make a complete solution. Amir Majidimehr, Corporate VP of the Windows Digital Media Division had the following to say when I asked him about the subject. “Microsoft is hard at work in developing native HD DVD playback in Windows Vista. We have a large, dedicated team working with our hardware partners, optimizing our software infrastructure, and ensuring compliance with copy protection measures so we can stay on target for providing HD-DVD playback on Windows Vista this year. Finally, as we have mentioned time and time again, Microsoft has no plans to provide native Blu-ray playback functionality in Windows Vista. Such functionality will be provided by third parties, similar to the way DVD playback is offered today.”