Microsoft Announce new still image format.

Just when we thought there were enough image formats to contend with Microsoft announce another one. Windows Media Photo will feature a .WDP file extension and promises multiple colour space support and fast compression algorithms. Microsoft promises Windows Media Photo will support a wide range of features including:
Multiple color formats for display or print.
Fixed or floating point, high-dynamic-range image encoding.
Lossless or high-quality lossy compression.
Extremely efficient decoding for multiple resolutions and sub-regions.
Minimal overhead for format conversion or transformations during decoding.
Obviously another attempt to dominate the imaging arena by Microsoft it remains to be seen how many vendor will take a serious look at yet another file format. However with all the patent bull thats going on at the moment it would be nice if this is a fairly open standard, it appears however to be tied into the XML based XPS. You can read more at Microsofts information page on WDP here or obtain the specification document.