At 12:04 AM -0500 5/21/05, Steven Rogers wrote: >>Quality is not the issue in the end. Remember video standards? Beta was >>actually better than VHS, but the more important thing was that everyone >>used the same standard, otherwise not all movies were available to everyone. > >This has been repeated until most people think its true, but it is >just completely wrong. First, Beta was not "better" than VHS in any >way that the user actually cares about, which is a critical point. >To say that beta was actually better, but people just didn't >understand why is to miss the whole point of what "better" is. >Further, it was not important that everyone use the same standard. >Sony wanted to charge more for Beta, which was identical to VHS to >everyone but video geeks, and average consumers did not want to pay >extra. Nah. It was about the porn and about length (now *there's* a pun waiting to happen!) <http://www.answers.com/topic/betamax> <http://www.law.indiana.edu/fclj/pubs/v49/no1/johnson.html> <http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=9272> -- 'tis as said. [Reality is defined by being described]