Hacker News Reader

"If a non-profit can keep on top of all the different codecs, profiles and containers, why can't Microsoft?"

Because Microsoft would actually be required to license every one of them that are possible to license legally.

The capability is certainly there, but the users will likely not pay for their availability. It'll be interesting to see how many users of Windows 8 do upgrade, in the case of DVD playback and the Media Center features.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/feature-packs

Did you see that Microsoft is doing exactly the opposite these days by removing the DVD capabilities from Windows 8?

Legally being able to play those formats requires paying money to decode the patented formats. mpeg-4 and mp3, among others, are patented.