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From: stassen@trwspp.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.video
Subject: Re(2): Future Considerations -- CLARIFICATION
Message-ID: <595@trwspp.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 1-Oct-84 17:54:20 EDT
Article-I.D.: trwspp.595
Posted: Mon Oct  1 17:54:20 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 3-Oct-84 06:41:08 EDT
Organization: T R W, Redondo Beach, CA
Lines: 103

> You want to talk vicious circle?? How about the consumer looking for a VCR
> being told that VHS is more popular than Beta. So, the consumer says to himself,
> "Wow! Then I'd better get a VHS!" Thus, after a number of these, VHS *becomes*
> more popular, which in turn reinforces the "VHS is more popular" line. It's
> got nothing to do with High-end, Low-end, or Ass-end. It's all got to do with
> marketing strategy.

  That's not all VHS has going for it.  Since it was introduced AFTER Beta,
it still managed to gain more of the market.  Certainly not (only) by being
more popular, because it wasn't (at first).

> You can't be serious. What you are suggesting, when all of the rhetoric is done
> away with, is that we should all flock like mindless sheep to buy what we are
> told is the most popular, because it'll be the one around later. And what we
> shouldn't do is support the manufacturer that creates the best product for the
> money. We should reward the company with the inferior engineering division and
> the superior marketing division, while condemning the company with the superior
> engineering division and the inferior marketing division. Right. No thanks.

   You can't be serious.  For someone who claims to see through the rhetoric,
you don't understand the main idea behind the argument.  It is, stated simply,
WHEN YOU GO TO BUY SOMETHING EXPENSIVE, YOU WANT TO MAXIMIZE YOUR SATISFACTION
FROM OWNING IT.  IN ORDER TO DO SO, YOU MUST CONSIDER PRESENT AS WELL AS FUTURE
SATISFACTION DERIVED FROM OWNING THE MACHINE.  If you disagree, then you had
better come up with a sound argument.  Misinterpreting me, and then proving
the misinterpreted argument to be wrong DOES NOT prove me to be wrong.

	And, where do you come up with this "reward the company" bull***t?
When I look for a product, I don't consider the company AT ALL.  I don't think
"gee, what a deserving corporation.  I think I'll buy their product."  Any
smart consumer is out for his own benefit -- it's his money.  I want maximum
product satisfaction for the dollar.

	Finally, if you really want to reward the technological innovators,
and you don't give a damn about deriving any satisfaction from the product,
why don't you own a LaserDisk?  They have better picture quality than Beta
has any chance to attain.  The non-contact, non-degrading recording medium
is far superior to any sort of video tape.  Of course, you can't record,
and you can't get many movies, but if enough people buy laser disks, they
will have the money to find a way;  after all, they're real innovators.
Besides, you obviously don't care about availability of movies -- you own
a Beta deck because technology means so much more.

	In my book, I would much rather have a lot of movies to see than
a flashy technological deck.  That is MY OPINION.  I have yet to hear
any arguments solid enough to sway it -- all that I have heard is meant
to somehow show me that smart marketing is BAD.  Right... no thanks.

> Do you really expect that if VHS kills Beta that the "behemoths of VHS" will
> have any incentive to constantly improve their systems? The fact that Sony is
> out there adding some new spiffy feature to the Beta is what keeps VHS going
> to keep up. Sure, I can well believe that VHS would've developed the stereo
> VCR eventually without Beta Hi-Fi to compete with, but it probably would've
> taken longer, and I *seriously* doubt that they would have bothered developing
> a Hi-Fi system.

	Competition among the various producers of VHS will keep it moving
forward long after Beta is gone (provided that it dies first).

> What you don't seem to understand is that what will *really* kill the Beta, if
> it dies at all, is people like you who go for popularity rather than quality.
> Popularity? Talk about popularity with the people whose Fords or GM's are in the
> garage more than the less-popular, but better engineered Toyotas. Or to be more
> germane, talk about popularity with the people who have a CED videodisc player
> on their hands. I almost bought one, you know, because there was a greater
> selection of movies on CED than Laserdisc. I guess the jokes *not* on me, eh?

	What you're suggesting, when all of the rhetoric is done away with,
is that we should all go out and buy products that are made by smart people
and researchers, and spend our hard-earned money on things which are of 
superior technological construction, not things which will entertain us and
make us happy.  I think I'll stick to buying the things that satisfy me
most ... I like lots of movies.  If you like slick lights and buttons, well, 
that's your business.

	I agree that we all should buy Toyotas... again, my point is not
to buy the most popular, but to buy the most satisfactory.  And, again, 
misinterpreting that point and proving the misinterpretation wrong says
nothing about the original point.

	If you will be happier with the product made by the more "deserving"
company, then buy it.  If you won't, buy something else.  Secondly, when
you consider how happy you will be with your new acquisition, you should
consider more than your present satisfaction.  Those were, and still are,
my two points.  All of the rest are my own opinions;*  I am willing (and
would very much like) to discuss this further, but by private mail only
please.  It seems that there are a lot of people who (rightfully so) 
would not want to see it.

> Give me a break.

	Ditto.

* by this I mean that my two points are up for discussion, my own opinions
  are subjective, and therefore a lot harder to argue about.
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The opinions expressed in this document are my own.  They are not intended to
reflect the views of my employer - TRW - or anyone else.  Intelligent and
responsible commentaries should be directed to me;  Flames to the bit bucket.
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Christian W. Stassen	[decvax!trwrb,vortex,ihnp4!vortex]!trwspp!stassen

	"Seek not, lest ye crash the heads."