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Sun, 23 Jul 1995 12:31:35 -0400 |
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Eric Siegal wrote
These productsare evolving so rapidly, so headlong, that the development
of
standards in a rational sense, or maybe better to say in a
planned manner, just doesn't happen. I recently read an article
in The Economist describing an economist's attempt to debug what
might be called the VHS/BETA myth, where an inferior standard
defeats a superior one out of sheer obtuseness of the consumer
This is a minor aside, but may have some relevance to the ongoing dialog
about computers, os's, and the internet. Were the vhs/beta wars the result
of consumer obtuseness or something else. VHS was the first to introduce a
two hour tape, allowing consumers the chance to record a full length movie,
or rent one. JVC the developers of VHS offered the standard to any
manufacturer for a small fee, while Sony kept Beta their own. VHS became the
more affordable standard even though it had, and does, a demonstrably lower
resolution than Beta.
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