duane writes:

> >The announcement marks the end of a 27-year run, during which the fabled
>  >brand sold 18 million units worldwide in a race against VHS technology
from
>  >its archrival Victor Co., which is also known as JVC, to set the video
>  >format standard.
>
>  Only 27 years?  Boy, the HP 3000 has 30 years this year. Add in the
>  years to 2006 and you get ~ 35 years. And that is with more than one
>  main competitor...
>
>  BTW - many folks are bothered by hp's change in direction WRT to porting
>  mpe to ia-64. Here is a quote from Sony regarding their long term
>  commitment to beta:
>
>  ``Beta is forever. It's our word of honor. The word of Sony.''
>
>  -- Quoted from a full page December 30, 1988 advertisement in ``La Estrella
>  de Panama''
>
>  I would say that 1988 to 2002 is not exactly "forever"...

The difference is that the ecosystem really did erode for the Betamax.
Indeed, you haven't been able to buy commercially produced tapes for the
machines for years now. In this environment, I was first astounded to hear
that Sony was still manufacturing the devices and pleased to hear of Sony's
announcement. I consider Sony's commitment to their product line to be
everything they said it would be.

But none of this was true for the HP3000. In contrast, it still has (or had)
a very active and very loyal customer base who was very satisfied with its
offerings. What the HP3000 needs now more than HP's continued support is a
Mighty Powerful Emulator, and should that come to exist, I have no doubt that
it will continue to thrive.

Wirt Atmar

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