Charlie Sorrel
Gear

Color Bar Codes: Microsoft tries to tie up yet another technology

Color and triangles It can store a lot more information than the plain old vanilla code beloved of dystopian Sci-Fi tattoos, and more even than the DataMatrix 2D barcode which is so big in Japan.... Microsoft has already signed a deal with an unknown labeling company so this new 'standard' could be on DVDs by the end of the year.

Close-Up 429X290 1What is it with Microsoft? They can't seem to support any standard unless it's their own. PlaysForSure, Office Open XML, heck, it seems that only Sony is as obsessed with proprietary formats.

Now the boys from Redmond are "innovating" (trying to take over) the humble bar code. The differences? Color and triangles

It can store a lot more information than the plain old vanilla code beloved of dystopian Sci-Fi tattoos, and more even than the DataMatrix 2D barcode which is so big in Japan.

As expected, this won't work with existing scanners, but you can use phone and web cams to read them. Microsoft has already signed a deal with an unknown labeling company so this new 'standard' could be on DVDs by the end of the year.

Just don't say "CueCat"

Microsoft gives bar codes a splash of color [CNET]