Re: [TCLUG:12994] Local Media and DVD Stuff..

[Philip C Mendelsohn <mend0070@tc.umn.edu>]

On Fri, 28 Jan 2000, Mike Hicks wrote:

> Also, the 'inertia' argument is one I don't like, as it is the same
> argument used for not bothering Microsoft.  

Well, first off, I don't like it either!  Secondly, it's not an
argument.  It is a fact that large corporations with billions more
available to them than Microsoft (really -- if you think MS is a big deal,
try and look at the size of someone like Sony or Philips, who sells things
that are commodities not just in first-world countries, but in the
*entire* world!) want to play the game this way.  It is the 'unwashed
masses' who buy a $200 DVD player that support this, and kill any reason
they might have for opening things up, and provide the incentive for a
restrictive intellectual property paradigm.

> It could be easily argued
> that the MPAA/DVD consortia are not unlike Microsoft in that they have
> been promoting huge deals to get DVD off the ground.

The difference is that DVD actually is a development -- a piece of
hardware.  Further, it is a consortium (or cartel if you prefer!<G>) which
is not a monopoly.  Microsoft has simply done the marketing thing of
differentiating their product so that it is *believed* to be the best, and
become the king of the bottled air market.  The size of the DVD thing is
so huge, that they can force feed the market into buying the product, need
it or not, and there can never be a critical mass of "no" voting consumers
to kill it in the marketplace.   That's what's so scary!

> There are also
> rumors that DVDs will go up in price once a significant market has been
> reached.

Well, rumors are rumors...  time will tell.

> I agree that the FCC was premature.  They should have produced specs
> _first_, then made sure that the TVs would be inexpensive, _then_ run
> their mandate (IMO).

I don't think they should be telling me (or anyone else) what
"better" is.  Period, end of paragraph.  Besides, how good a picture do
you need when you can only get Jerry Springer, Pro-Wrestling, and Barney?

> > Whatever... Pardon the bandwidth...
> 
> Heh.  Ditto.

And again.

Phil M.

---
Life is complex,
It has real and imaginary components.
                     --Unknown