Re: Photo-cd

[P3D Gregory J. Wageman <gjw@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Bob Wier expressed this sentiment re Kodak and Photo-CD:

>Now, this p***ed a LOT of people off on the net (particularly on
>the computer graphics groups) and I dont feel that photo-cd ever
>got the play it perhaps should have due at least in some part to 
>this stance. IMHO they would have done much better to pursue
>the Philips cassette tape strategy - that is, develope the standard
>but then basically let everyone use it and compete on the basis of
>service and providing compatible hardware rather than trying to make
>the money via licensing fees...

Bob, I agree with you, and apparently Kodak did too, because they
HAVE published the details of the format.  You are completely correct
that they initially kept the details proprietary, and would only
give you access to their code if you became a registered developer
and paid a hefty (multi-hundred dollar) licensing fee.

There were also problems with CDROM-drive compatibility with the
multi-session format.  These too have pretty much disappeared.

Phil Greenspun (photo.net) speaks very highly of it... who am I
to argue? :-)

        -Greg W.


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