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BetaMax versus VHS
Robert — (archived)

I was tempted to write that subject line as "Awwww! BetaMax versus VHS! Squaaawwk! BetaMax versus VHS!" in homage to the way you can set your watch by the way that bit of history is cited in the present case.

The issues back then were picture quality and storage capacity (run time), and BetaMax was demonstrably superior. But businesses chose sides and made their alliances for business reasons, and the purity of engineering ideals never entered into it. And so it is left unto us to consume the VHS equipment and tapes that they have bestowed upon us.

This time too I'm halting my technology purchases at the level of dual-layer DVD burning for a couple of years to await the outcome of their deliberations and negotiations. From what I can tell the two contenders are both pretty good, and differ mainly in details. We'll be given a high-capacity disc format eventually, and we'll get some good use out of it. We'll just have to be patient because businesspeople don't make decisions the way engineers do.

And then in another decade we'll go through it all again with whatever sucessor technologies are fighting to be that generation's Next Big Thing.

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