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Sony Decides Against Blu-Ray Downsampling
Paul Slocum writes "According to Ars Technica, Sony is now saying they will not use the Image Constraint Token and so movies will play on analog HDTV sets at full resolution. If HD-DVD does implement the analog downsampling, it's going to give Blu-ray a nice market advantage." From the article: "Sony's decision to not use the Image Constraint Token for the time being is meant to encourage the adoption of Blu-ray players. Launching a new product that would leave the thousands of analog HDTV owners out in the standard-definition cold could have proven to be a nightmare for Sony and the Blu-ray spec in general. Reports that 'Blu-ray discs don't look right on my HDTV' could result in consumers' switching allegiances to the competing HD DVD standard or postponing purchases of next-generation optical players altogether."
A new Steve Jobs; a second coming. But is it the same old Apple? The firm's predicament is that in the desktop computer market there is bound to be only one winner--markets based on standards tend to work that way--and the IBM-compatible PC is it. Apple, dazzled by its own brilliance, chose to go it alone, refusing to allow an industry of cloners to arise, as IBM did. As far behind as the original PC may have been, it was only a matter of time before the collective efforts of Microsoft, Intel and a horde of others would overtake Apple. Now that day has come, and no amount of restructuring, marketing or price-cutting can disguise the fact that Apple is the Betamax of computers.
... Mr Jobs [has] demonstrated his own grasp on reality by selling all but one of the 1.5m Apple shares he had received for NeXT. He did not, he said, see much of a future for Apple. Moreover, he has told Pixar staff that he will not be leaving, and has declared time and again that he does not want to become Apple's chief executive for a second time. Against expectations, he has also declined to become Apple's chairman.
Those who expect the returning prophet to change this ghastly situation reckon without the change in the prophet himself.
This is hardly the Steve Jobs that Apple enthusiasts know and love. Where is his vision for restoring Apple to its rightful place in the industry it did so much to create? Intact, actually: the newly level-headed Mr Jobs knows that Apple's rightful place is a niche, at best, despite its glorious history. Today he talks about refocusing on its strengths in the publishing and education markets, tomorrow he may steer it to the cheap "network computers" Mr Ellison is so enthusiastic about. But it is hard to see a future in which Apple is not a smaller firm, less obsessed by the victory of the inferior PC, and probably without Mr Jobs.
His own fortune assured, and Pixar a success, Mr Jobs has little to prove by taking the helm of a sinking ship, even one he built long ago. At least he is well placed to break the bad news that, having lost the desktop war, Apple must now find something different to do. Having once distorted reality, his duty now is to make Apple face up to it.
1 point for bluray in my book.
I kid you not.
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While I like Slashdot for some of its more unique stories and features (and the comments), this story is already days old. The linked article was published 2 days ago. This seems to be becoming a fairly common thing around here, where I read about something on another blog, then 2-3 days later its here. We probably need to step up the pace a bit least the front page is just filled with old news.
"A coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave but one."
...on 3/8 and it got rejected. I guess since it didn't link to Arstechnica, I didn't get the green light. Bastards... :)
--Mike
Ah, the anonymous one-man boycott so common on Slashdot...and oh-so-effective, too.
"Sufferin' succotash."