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.