Technology has long been a battlefield with two competing standards facing off against each other: VHS vs. Betamax. AC vs. DC. Mac vs. PC. Atom vs. RSS. The most recent standards showdown revolves around next generation DVDs: Blu-ray vs. HD DVD. Industry titans have aligned themselves behind one or the other, and many are wondering when Apple will be shipping Macs with next gen DVD drives (these new DVDs aren't compatible with older DVD drives).

Apple is part of the Blu-ray Disc Association which leads one to believe Apple will be shipping Macs with Blu-ray drives at some point in the near future. However, CNet reports that two of the biggest studios who were committed to shipping Blu-ray Discs have jumped ship to HD DVD. Paramount and Dreamworks Animation announced they will be releasing new movies exclusively on HD DVD, which is a set back for Blu-ray.

It looks like Apple has the right strategy with regards to including these next gen DVD drives. Wait until a clear standard emerges and then go with that, however, I know many Mac users are eager to watch HD content (whether from Blu-Ray or HD DVD) on their Macs not to mention burning data to these high capacity discs. Which side are you hoping will win out? Or does it not really matter to you, as long as you can find your favorite movies?

In another move by a major player to negate this ridiculous next-gen DVD format war, Think Secret is reporting they have evidence that Apple might very well support both Blu-ray and HD-DVD with their upcoming Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard release. This is an interesting (and wholly welcomed) move from Apple in part because they're on the board of the Blu-ray Disc Association, while others like Microsoft, Toshiba and (strangely) Intel are camping out on the HD-DVD side of the fence.

It would be great to see this rumor come true, as the last thing users need is another headache-inducing, hardware-stratifying format war to both up their daily computing.

Engadget HD linked a theory from Robert X. Cringely as to why Apple hasn't included Blu-ray drives in any of their Macs yet (it isn't even an option in the Mac Pro), despite being on the board of the Blu-ray Disc Association. Mr. Cringely more or less links the lack of Blu-ray in Macs to movies and Apple's strategy with downloadable iTS content and the upcoming iTV. The thinking goes: if Apple can sell you a downloadable movie through the iTS and an iTV on which to watch it - why undercut that model with a Blu-ray drive built right into the machine?

I disagree. There's plenty of other uses and potential (heck, they can hold up to 50GB) in these warring next generation optical formats (Blu-ray and their mortal enemy, HD-DVD), and that's exactly the point: these formats are in the middle of an industry polarizing war, and I think Apple hasn't committed to including either in their machines because they don't want risk leaving their customers high and dry once the dust settles and (dear lord, finally) one format wins out. The iTS/movie downloads/iTV theory doesn't hold water in my book also because that would mean they should eliminate CD and DVD drives from their machines - after all, those drives can undercut their iTunes Store music and movie purchases, right? These discs can hold a lot more than simple movies.

This ridiculous Blu-ray/HD-DVD situation is Betamax vs. VHS all over again, and while Apple is known for pushing the envelope on which technologies they adopt, I believe they're simply waiting for an actual standard to emerge. The only question is when these camps are going to get over themselves and stop forcing consumers to stock up on Advil for every trip to the electronics store.