Digital Home Thoughts: Adobe: No DNG Turf War with JPEG XR

"Adobe Systems' Digital Negative (DNG) format isn't a competitor to JPEG XR, a format Microsoft created as a higher-end replacement for conventional JPEG, an Adobe executive has predicted. "I think it's inappropriate to label the two formats as competitive," said Tom Hogarty, product manager for Photoshop Lightroom, in an e-mail interview. He believes that not only is the case now, but more significantly, will be the case in the future as well. DNG is Adobe's attempt to standardize the profusion of proprietary "raw" formats that give owners of higher-end cameras the option to process image data on their own computers instead of leaving it to the camera, which throws away a lot of data in the conversion to JPEG. JPEG XR, formerly known as Windows Media Photo and HD Photo, is Microsoft's attempt to create a higher-quality sequel to JPEG; JPEG XR likely will be standardized by the same neutral group that did so with ordinary JPEG."

I am quite surprised by this news items because I really didn't think that there was any overlap between the two formats at all. DNG, from what I understand, is Adobe's attempt to standardize alll the various RAW formats, which IMHO is necessary and worthwhile. JPEG XR is supposed to be the next-gen JPEG format and has some nice features like being able to record more than 8 bits of data per color, providing more than a relatively coarse 256 levels between complete darkness and complete brightness. So they cater to different people and different applications. I wonder whether this is either an indication of some turf war to come? Or maybe Adobe wonders if users (if they do move from jpg and RAW) will move to only one new format than two and are planning ahead strategically.