Not so revolutionary war: Microsoft and Sun's struggle for control of the living room has spilled into the high-def battle.(HEADLINERS)

Video Business, January, 2006 by Sweeting, Paul

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY * Microsoft and Sun Microsystems are battling it out for control over consumers' living rooms. * And the adoption of Blu-ray or HD DVD could be affected. When most Americans think out the Revolutionary War, they see it in fairly parochial terms: Plucky Minutemen and the heroism of George Washington and his ragtag army defeat the mighty British Empire and establish a free republic.

Historians know, however, that the American Revolution took place against a backdrop of a larger, global struggle between England and France that both influenced, and was influenced by, the outcome in the colonies. Were it not for France's desire to keep the British tied down in North America, for instance, the better to strengthen French...