[CS-FSLUG] timestamp, was Re: Fw: GM vs Microsoft
Chris Brault
gginorio at sbcglobal.net
Mon Apr 17 23:11:22 CDT 2006
Funny you should mention Beta,
>> Linux is a superior technology same as Beta was to
>> VHS. Those who needed the superior technology in
>> the broadcast industry stayed with Beta and paid the
>> premium, the uninformed masses bought the marketing
>> misinformation and went with VHS.
>
> I think this is actually a bad analogy. Both Beta and VHS were
> proprietary, so the difference is on off features vs price. In which
> case VHS won because it came to the market earlier and was able to be
> cheaper because of mass production. Beta:VHS::Windows::Mac is probably a
> better analogy.
Beta was owned outright by Sony. Sony refused to license the
technology. Clone manufacturers (read: competition) were unable to build
cheap alternative Beta tapes or machines. The kept the price of Beta
tapes and equipment monopolistically high. This is what almost cost
Apple their life in the early 1990's; they destroyed their competition
and, as the sole manufacturer, was forced, by the law of supply and
demand, to keep prices sky high.
JVC, on the other hand, freely sold licenses to build VHS machines and
manufacture tapes, treating it as a commodity. As a result, VHS, which
wasn't the first to market became the dominant technology through better
availability and cheaper pricing. It's the American way: If it's
cheaper, we buy it.
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