BearItAll <spam@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> Mark Kent wrote:
>
>> BearItAll <spam@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
>>> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>>>
>>>> Novell makes ODF-OOXML translator available
>>>>
>>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>>> | Novell has released for download an Open XML translator that allows
>>>> | users to open and save Microsoft Office Open XML-formatted
>>>> | word-processing documents in OpenOffice.
>>>> `----
>>>>
>>>> http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=298
>>>>
>>>
>>> Novell must be experiencing the same feeling of those who bought a
>>> Betamax tape player at the moment.
>>>
>>
>> Well, to be fair the the beta crowd, they were rather better resolution
>> in the first place, at least until the high-band VHS machines came long
>> :-)
>>
>
> Your right it was commonly agreed that Betamax was the better format. I
> don't really know what swayed people the other way. But I do know that one
> of my brothers not only bought the wrong video player but also the wrong
> car cassette player. He refuses to talk about it, I think he is still in
> therapy.
>
Ah, I can let you know with ease - I was involved with that particular
industry at the time.
Betamax was a shrunken version of U-Matic, an AV-quality tape recording
system; not quite up to the standards of the really big open-reel
machines from EMI, Philips and so on, but so good that many companies
used them for their adverts, and they were also used for
outside-broadcast recordings, and so on.
On the other hand, VHS was a truly simplified system, drawing much on
cassette-tape designs, although it used a similar rotating drum to
create the equivalent of a high tape-speed even though it only ran the
tape through slowly. Syncs were stored along the edge, along with a
mono sound-track.
The VHS tape loading system was very simple, and only required the tape
to be pulled out about 4" from the casette, and the casettes themselves
were small. Beta used a loading system like U-Matic, where the tape was
pulled-around a huge drum-like system, something like 9" diameter (I'm
going from memory for the sizes, but they'll be about right).
There were two major consequences; 1) The VHS system, although far
poorer, was also /much/ less expensive to make - 1-0 to VHS
2) Because of the very simple scanning system, small portable machines
could be made for full-sized VHS tapes, about the same size as a
professional video camera for the time, if not smaller, whereas the
smallest portable Betamax machine was enormous - about the size of a
large-ish briefcase. 2-0 to VHS.
These two issues brought most manufacturers onto the VHS side, so the
costs fell yet further, whereas Sony only managed to get Toshiba to
build less expensive machines - it was just not enough. 3-0 to VHS.
Subsequent developments brought high-band video to VHS, (4-0), hi-fi
sound (good for PAL/nicam countries like UK, as well as for the
prerecorded film industry), 5-0 and Compact VHS, enabling a camcorder
small enough to fit in your palm (I still have one here), yet record
respectable quality video. Game, set and match.
After many years supporting Betamax, Sony finally gave up, and licensed
VHS from JVC. End of Beta.
The major moral from this tale, though, is the economics versus quality
thing; disruptive technology does not need to be as good as the
technology it is replacing, VHS was neither as good as the Philips N1700
system, nor was it as good as Beta, but it won, because it was far less
expensive than either.
There are some astonishing parallels with the computing industry - note
how Microsoft Mail wiped out the Dec All-in-one office systems, mainly
by being inexpensive (at the time), note how Linux has more or less
eliminated competing Unix offerings, and Apache has eaten lunch, tea,
dinner and supper from IIS. In most of these cases, it was about being
good enough, not necessarily demonstrably better.
To a great extent, Microsoft were smart enough to recognise this,
though, and have never marketed on the basis of quality, rather, they've
gone for highly subjective metrics, such as "innovation", "intuitive",
"experience", "font rendering!" and so on. Consequently, Linux's huge
advantages in this area have taken a very long time to emerge!
--
| Mark Kent -- mark at ellandroad dot demon dot co dot uk |
| Cola faq: http://www.faqs.org/faqs/linux/advocacy/faq-and-primer/ |
| Cola trolls: http://colatrolls.blogspot.com/ |
|
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