I must be misunderstanding something. Vista supports Blu-ray, native.
BD can be played in XP using third party software (PowerDVD, Nero, etc.), as far as I know.
How is that not a Microsoft Windows problem, if 3rd party software has no issues?
Are you sure you're not running into some other issue like HDCP handshake with your monitor? BD, as with HDDVD, will not output to a non-HDCP display (e.g., a monitor connected via VGA cable).
Nope, you need to run a program called "anydvd" to remove the protection if you intend to watch blue ray movies on XP. I eventually got my stuff running after trying 4 or 5 different old versions of powerDVD, but at the moment it seems that sony and microsoft are trying hard to make sure you dont play blue ray disks unless you give them some extra money.
When did it become 'hip' for the media to blindly attack Blu-ray? They definitely get the award for shortest-memories, especially considering all the 'Blu-ray is the undisputed champ' talk they did after the format war was over a year ago.
Regardless, I don't see the Blu-ray adoption rate as that damn different than DVD, or VHS before it. The presence of digital downloads is great, but in the absence of unfettered high-speed internet it will always take a backseat to Blu-ray for HD-content, naturally.
