Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
> ____/ Philip on Sunday 17 February 2008 17:31 : \____
>
>> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>>> R.I.P. HD DVD: Toshiba reportedly ends the war
>>>
>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>> | Well, that's it. Toshiba appears to be pulling the plug on HD DVD. Toshiba
>>> | has not commented publicly, but a report on Japan's NHK says Toshiba has
>>> | made the decision to withdraw from next generation high-definition DVD
>>> | production.
>>> `----
>>>
>>>
> http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9873848-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
>>
>> Given the how long the betamax VHS war went on, this one was mercifully
>> short. Although I suspect that the early HD-DVD buyers are now totally
>> pissed. At least the betamax users probably felt they got some value for
>> their purchase. The hordes of potential users who sat back and waited
>> are now feeling totally justified in their reluctance to pick sides with
>> their wallets.
>>
>> Maybe next time there is a format war brewing, some industry lesson will
>> have been learned, and it'll be ended before the devices hit the market.
>> On the other hand, I am sure this will result in higher costs and more
>> monopolistic practices.
>
> I care less about the (permissibly) DRM-enabled media and more about
> Microsoft's budget drain. Microsoft is approaching debt and the fact that it's
> placed /LAST/ in its own back yard (US sales of XBox 360) speaks volume. The
> Japanese are defeating Microsoft by a factor of about 20:1 in Japan and by a
> more moderate factor in the United States. Europe is not any better. It is
> hardly surprising that over 15% of the XBox team is claimed to have left
> Microsoft, including some of the chiefs. It is a dead end and the XBox 360
> could eventually bleed close to $10 billion because the failure rate continue
> to be abysmal.
>
It was remarked at the beginning of this battle, by several comentators,
(including me), that the public has lost all apetite for being the
battle-ground for mega-corps. The economics of developing a platform
which might go on to fail are awful, and history is littered with
once-powerful companies which have tried to "impose" a standard and
failed.
The converse problem is that of cartels, of course. Had the standards
bodies *not* been contaminated with RAND and similar, then genuine
standards could've been developed jointly, with competition occuring in
other areas, but as it's now possible to bury patents all over standards,
even they can no longer be trusted. One only has to look at Microsoft's
immense efforts at corrupting ISO, ECMA and even the venerable BSI to
realise how useless these bodies have become.
It's hard to see where Microsoft can go next, but it's certain that they
are not in a position to determine the direction of consumer electronics,
no matter how many times Timmy or Erik post their propaganda here. We
can be sure, though, that Microsoft's efforts will be ever more vicious,
as it fights for its survival.
--
| 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/ |
| My (new) blog: http://www.thereisnomagic.org |
|
|
