An unlikely partnership between supermarket giant Tesco and software giant Microsoft will see a virtual DVD service released in the UK. The service will allow customers to download virtual DVDs complete with menus, extras and all the other bits and pieces that most of us currently ignore on traditional DVDs.

The surprising thing about the announcement is the fact that the new service will use Microsoft’s Silverlight technology. The Silverlight software has apparently had problems and it is currently used by Netflix but there are complaints about slow streaming speeds. In fact Microsoft launched a streaming TV service in the UK recently and used Flash instead.

The new DVD service from Tesco will run on PC or Mac and in addition to bonus content there will be related MP3 files, ringtones and even networked games. They are talking up the interactivity angle but most people just want a fast efficient service for legal film downloads which isn’t hamstrung by poor quality or digital rights management which prevents you from copying the movie.

Tesco have also recently made moves to create a VoIP service like Skype. It seems they have money to burn and when you consider that they take an estimated £1 out of every £8 spent in the UK it isn’t surprising that they are branching out.

The press release from Microsoft doesn’t mention anything about the financial specifics of the deal and it is not known what kind of agreement the two companies reached. It is also unclear how Tesco will be pricing these downloads or how many of the movies will support digital copy options.