Quote:
|
From a business point of view, I wouldn't want to artificially limit my market. If using an open standard instead of a proprietary one meets the needs of my customers
|
You must not be in business....
Linux meets the needs of 1.4 % of the customers and to serve those they either have to:
1)Write new conversion SW which may not be worth it for a lousy 1.4 % of the market. And indeed it probably is not even that since many Linux users
also have Windows machines.
or
2) Allow direct import of standard file formats. I agree that this would be nicer it but does take some added capability within the device, which will add to the device cost. They clearly decided that this was cheaper to do in SW. It will also be more versatile as new formats can be added much more easily.
Quote:
|
The only reason that some companies pursue proprietary formats (like Sony and iTunes) is to lock their customers into their products.
|
Largely but not entirely true - if they were trying to lock customers in totally, they would not even offer conversion by SW. I agree that Sony has been pretty stupid along these lines in the past (witness beta and memory stick) - and it has cost them. Perhaps the fact that they have gone to SD on this device indicates that they have come to their senses to a degree. Time will tell. I should point out that insofar as the DRM part of the format, this may well be driven at least as much by their content providers. Unlike music and video, for books this is pretty much external to Sony.
Quote:
|
From a consumer point of view, proprietary is bad and competition is good. Competition ensures that I will get the most for the least money.
|
Sure, what is good for stockholders is bad for consumers. This is often true and only sometimes avoidable. There is a delicate balance between making a device open (which sells more devices) and closed (which sells more content). Since most companies make far more from content, it is not suprising to see manufacturers go the way they have. Why do you think printers are so cheap? The money is in the ink. This is nothing new and is called capitalism. Not great until you consider the alternatives.