X-POP3-Rcpt: jaques.law@louise
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 10:22:07 -0600
Mime-Version: 1.0
To: jaques.law@dlcwest.com
From: Name Withheld
Subject: Re: Mac v. Windows - Mission From God! 

>I don't know what made the beta so great. Did it have additional 
capabilities, >or only better ones (smaller, sharper, brighter)? 

Well I think the picture quality is vastly superior. That's because the tape zips past the record heads much faster than VHS and that spaces out the little blips of data so that even with a crappy tape there is far less snow and static.

But the question is not why is Beta better (most everyone who has owned both agrees it is) but the question is, why did it fail? 

The reason is because Sony developed the technology and then refused to license it to anyone else. The VHS format was developed by JVC who promptly licensed it to anyone and everyone from toster makers to car companies.
Sony continued to produce Beta's but Goldstar, Citizen, Hitachi, etc, etc everyone else on earth cranked out VHS to beat the band. Not every store had Sony but every store had at least one VHS brand. The price fell and the features multiplied on the VHS... and consumers bought it. 

The net result? A positive spiral. More people owning VCR's wandering into video stores asking for VHS tapes. Beta tapes were harder to find so more people bought VHS. In the end, when it was obvious to everyone that VHS had massive market domination, Sony offered the Beta format to 3rd parties. Only a couple of fool hardy companies took them up on that offer and then Sony pulled the plug on Beta and came out with VHS compatible units. 

Does this sound familiar? Apple has the superior product and a huge jump on the market but everyone else clones the PC. Finally Apple allows others to clone the Mac but it's secretly working on a number of ways to make Mac's PC compatible?

>I see a Microsoft monopoly as a real problem. 

Well they sure are. Since Apple screwed up and basically gave the PC market to IBM and IBM screwed up and basically gave the OS to Microsoft, Microsoft is now in position to dominate the software market forever. 

But Microsoft wrote the OS for my CoCo II. They are in tight with Motorola. They wrote the OS for the Osbourn, Compaq and all the rest. You may not know this, but the first PC's shipped with both Microsoft DOS 1.0 and CPM. CPM had a HUGE domination in the late 70's and early 80's. Digital owned CPM. But Microsoft made a super deal with IBM and anyone else who asked, selling MS-DOS for pennies a copy while Digital insisted on large fees for the use of CPM. Microsoft just had the smarts to keep the rights to the software... and when version 2 and 3 came out they cranked up the price. 

Now it's too late. As a single consumer you can't fix the market by yourself. You have to get the best product at the best price that's going to do the job. If that's the Mac for you then go for it. I kinda like Mac's. I just wouldn't want to own one... I still have my Beta VCR, my VHS-C camcorder, my 3D-camera, my 9,600 baud Compucom modem(s), my EGA monitor, my Tandy 100, my Leading Edge laptop... all of these failures in the market.

I guess you can't call Apple a failure in the market. Yet. But I'm still not going to buy one. Anyway I really enjoyed your article. Keep the faith! 

Oh ya... Microsoft just released Hellbender for the PC. I have it running on my network. Be afraid. Be very afraid. Steven will eat you for breakfast! Laugh... See ya thursday.

Bob
PS when is Hellbender comming out for the Mac?