The "meritocracy" post above rings true, as a (very crass) generalization I have found chinese academics to be very numbers oriented; when competing with 2 billion or so peers you must really stand out in order to, erm, stand out.
Case in point: check out CNN's interesting article about student riots when a smaller college affiliated with a prestigious university announced that it would no longer be providing diplomas from the presigious uni:
With so much on the line, wouldn't YOU do anything to get ahead? If the alternative was returning to the farmlands and no future? The system rewards smart people who know their stuff or smart hackers who can cheat well enough to escape detection, both of which are different flavors of intelligence.
Routerguy, kudos for pointing out what has been the tech/net industry's elephant-in-the-corner since its inception, namely pr0n. Much tech is driven directly or indirectly by purveyors of erotic entertainment. I don't think they invent much new tech, but they are excellent "refiners" of tech, adapting it and shaping it to fit their needs and open new business opportunities. (cf Neal Stephenson's "Diamond Age", description of Dr. X).
I think the uptake of DVD's was certainly driven by porn. DVD's are inherently cheaper to mass-produce than VHS tapes due to not having multiple mechanical parts, can be stocked and shelved more compactly, have a larger front surface for box art, etc. There are many good reasons why DVDs and pornography constituted a good match.
That being said, I am skeptical about the porn industry's part in the uptake of HDDVD/B-R. With bandwidth, bittorrent, and more progressive thinking than the MPAA, distributors of skin flicks will probably turn to the internet as their distribution model. It lowers the barrier to entry for porn purchasers since they can browse and buy from the comfort and privacy of their homes. Consumers who are uncomfortable being sleazy porn shops can stay home, and it saves everybody a trip outside to boot.
When DVD debuted, the internet was not yet really up to the task of moving movies around. Broadband was just becoming available, Bittorrent had not yet occured to Bram, and even playback horsepower on PC's was stunted (remember having to buy an MPEG2 accelerator card?). Nowadays, all of these barriers are gone and no matter which format is chosen, it will represent the "ultra-high-end" segment of the porn market -- people still willing to deal with the physical aspects of acquiring porn in return for the ultimate in quality. I suspect it will take some time for HD-DVD-quality content to be popular on the filesharing networks as the bitrates start to put a squeeze on even modern broadband connections.
It's basically "do you want super quality and a trip to the store? or 'suffer' with what worked until today, but via the net?"
Slashdot Mirror
Why the hell? ;)
The "meritocracy" post above rings true, as a (very crass) generalization I have found chinese academics to be very numbers oriented; when competing with 2 billion or so peers you must really stand out in order to, erm, stand out.
Case in point: check out CNN's interesting article about student riots when a smaller college affiliated with a prestigious university announced that it would no longer be providing diplomas from the presigious uni:
With so much on the line, wouldn't YOU do anything to get ahead? If the alternative was returning to the farmlands and no future? The system rewards smart people who know their stuff or smart hackers who can cheat well enough to escape detection, both of which are different flavors of intelligence.
Routerguy, kudos for pointing out what has been the tech/net industry's elephant-in-the-corner since its inception, namely pr0n. Much tech is driven directly or indirectly by purveyors of erotic entertainment. I don't think they invent much new tech, but they are excellent "refiners" of tech, adapting it and shaping it to fit their needs and open new business opportunities. (cf Neal Stephenson's "Diamond Age", description of Dr. X).
I think the uptake of DVD's was certainly driven by porn. DVD's are inherently cheaper to mass-produce than VHS tapes due to not having multiple mechanical parts, can be stocked and shelved more compactly, have a larger front surface for box art, etc. There are many good reasons why DVDs and pornography constituted a good match.
That being said, I am skeptical about the porn industry's part in the uptake of HDDVD/B-R. With bandwidth, bittorrent, and more progressive thinking than the MPAA, distributors of skin flicks will probably turn to the internet as their distribution model. It lowers the barrier to entry for porn purchasers since they can browse and buy from the comfort and privacy of their homes. Consumers who are uncomfortable being sleazy porn shops can stay home, and it saves everybody a trip outside to boot.
When DVD debuted, the internet was not yet really up to the task of moving movies around. Broadband was just becoming available, Bittorrent had not yet occured to Bram, and even playback horsepower on PC's was stunted (remember having to buy an MPEG2 accelerator card?). Nowadays, all of these barriers are gone and no matter which format is chosen, it will represent the "ultra-high-end" segment of the porn market -- people still willing to deal with the physical aspects of acquiring porn in return for the ultimate in quality. I suspect it will take some time for HD-DVD-quality content to be popular on the filesharing networks as the bitrates start to put a squeeze on even modern broadband connections.
It's basically "do you want super quality and a trip to the store? or 'suffer' with what worked until today, but via the net?"