Regarding the DVD+ and DVD- "war", cdfreaks (article Ian posted link to)arrives at the same conclusion that many of us had thought:
It is all about the money (cost of discs and burners).
They determined that hardware was very similar and so was playback compatibility, leaving only the monetary factors as the major differences...
They also said that this isn't (may not be) like Betamax and VHS, where one format eventually took over the entire market, partly because of the existence of dual DVD burners.
As far as I am concerned, I will be happy if BOTH formats survive, because:
1) it leads to competition, which drives down prices and is an impetus for technology to improve quicker
2) One of my two DVD burners "only" records to one format, so I would like that format to be around for a while.
(I only bought the 2nd burner (also 4X) because it was only $139 back in February after rebate and discounts. I figured that I could burn at 2X on both at the dame time, effectively burning at 4X, and actually save more money than the cost of the burner, by using 2X name brand media until name brand 4X media becomes cheaper).
Otherwise I would have either just kept one burner, or bought another dual burner.