Microsoft Gets Into The Barcode Business

Some people feel like they have to re-invent the wheel all the time. Microsoft it would seem is one of those companies. No, I'm not talking about creating the Zune to compete in the MP3 player world, or even the Xbox to take on the gaming community. No, I'm talking about something far more simplistic, something that no one would dream of competing against. Yes, I'm talking about barcodes.

I would have loved to have been in the conference room when this one got brought up. "You know what I hate? Barcodes. They're always looking up at you with those beady little lines and numbers that mean nothing to you. And what's with the black-and-white look? Our computers can display millions of colors, why should our barcodes be limited to two?!?"

Ok, I'm sure that's not how it really went down, but no matter how it came up, they've decided to run with the idea. The idea is to have a color-based barcode that can hold far more information than the boring ones we see today. They apparently are designing these with the idea of user-interaction in mind. Nothing gets me more excited than interacting with a barcode. Expect to start seeing these on video game disks later this year.

Colored Barcodes Hitting DVDs And Video Games [via crunchgear]