They're my favorite evil international megacorp. I mean, they invade privacy, crush free enterprise, have all the trappings of the antagonist in a William Gibson novel... and make such, such, such sexy consumer products, probably second only to Apple among the non-boutique/mass consumption manufacturers of consumer 'lectronics.
I don't know if Sony really won or not--the winner may ultimately be DVD. We'll see. Sony has failed to launch next-gen formats before even without a direct competitor: MiniDisc comes to mind.
Sony isn't evil, they're just inept. The Japanese management of the core electronics business on the left hand does not know what the Entertainment jackasses on the right are doing.
But at least they seem to have learned something from the Betamax fiasco.
Good point. You gotta love a corporation in which half the company appears to be sabotaging the other half, like some kind of two-headed giant in a fight with itself....
Well, that's what happens when Japanese companies buy an American subsidiary. They expect Japanese-style loyalty to the interests of the core, and the Americans are out for the interests of the former business, which in this case happens to be at odds with the core business. It didn't help that the Americans in question were also jackasses.
I worked for our subsidiary in Tokyo, so I have some first hand knowledge of how this kind of thing works, albeit in reverse.
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I don't know if Sony really won or not--the winner may ultimately be DVD. We'll see. Sony has failed to launch next-gen formats before even without a direct competitor: MiniDisc comes to mind.
But at least they seem to have learned something from the Betamax fiasco.
I worked for our subsidiary in Tokyo, so I have some first hand knowledge of how this kind of thing works, albeit in reverse.