After quietly heating up over recent months, the battle over next-generation DVD formats boiled over Thursday, as Dell and Hewlett-Packard assailed Intel and Microsoft, which have lined up in the opposite camp.
Earlier this week, Microsoft and Intel announced that they were backing the HD-DVD format, saying its approach will spur easier home networking of movies and make it simpler to distribute hybrid discs containing both high-definition and traditional DVD movies. Dell and HP shot back Thursday, saying the world"s largest software and processor makers were spreading "inaccurate" information. They also reiterated their backing for the rival Blu-ray format.