"Disc-less" Blu-rays -- an Oxymoron?

[whippersnapper]

OK folks, am I missing something? The format is called Blu-ray after the "wave length" used by the lasers which read the disc. If you didn't have a disc to read you wouldn't need lasers of any sort let alone "Blu". So if you aren't using discs and Blu-ray lasers, you wouldn't be using the Blu-ray format by definition. So what am I missing in the below article? Are they saying that Blu-ray CE manufacturers can now focus on downloads or some other media instead of Blu-ray? I'm prepared to say "Duh!" to the the first person who makes me understand this article.

http://www.cepro.com/article/htsa_fo..._less_blu_ray/

HTSA: Format War Victory Paves the Way for Disc-less Blu-ray

Blu-ray manufacturers can focus on innovation and the ultimate goal of eliminating discs all together, says HTSA's David Berman

Blu-ray is simply better. Berman says Blu-ray has a thinner surface coating and lower aperture of the laser system, allowing deeper use of the disc for better storage capacity and speed.

“Overall, we thought as soon as it caught up on the audio codec side of things it would surpass HD DVD in every aspect. That proved to be true.”

The thinner surface coating is also the only downside to Blu-ray that Berman sees, because that makes it more susceptible to scratches.

Innovation can now flourish. The short-term goal for manufacturers is to eliminate media and having a format war between two types of media discs blurred that goal, Berman says.

Even though Blu-ray is a disc, its victory will help bring consumers closer to a disc-less world, he predicts. “Now there is a coalition of 150 some odd manufacturers that bought into a format transition” and can focus on advancing that format toward eliminating discs, he says.

“Now that that muddiness has been removed we have an unimpeded path to the next level of technology.”