Today Microsoft announced the launch of HD Photo (formerly Windows Media Photo).
Microsoft Launches HD Photo – Engadget
I had seen info on this sometime ago (HD Photo 1.0 Specification) and was less than impressed namely because its a proprietary Microsoft file format. No format is immune to “proprietary”ness, given past patent issues with JPEG, but Microsoft is notoriously bad with “open” formats. They’re never truly open. Time will tell if this is the file format of the future or another failed image file format. My initial take is that it will be the later.
See here for more thoughts on Microsoft HD Photo:
Microsoft HD Photo: Thoughts On Acceptance & Adoption