Stop the Anti-Divx Madness!

Posted by Jeff T [IP: 208.255.130.19] on November 17, 1998 at 11:51:35:

In Reply to: Stop the Anti-Divx Madness! posted by David on November 16, 1998 at 01:36:15:

David,

Like you, I believe in free choice. I also believe like Philip and others have pointed out, that DIVX is poised to rob us of this choice, were it to succeed as a format. Here's an experiment I tried: I explained both the pros and cons of DIVX to friends and family (and the occasional stranger) in an honest, unbiased way. Every single person I spoke with said that DIVX is not something they would support. I was not naysaying DIVX, I did not mislead them in any way, and I didn't leave anything out. Not surprisingly, they all came to the same conclusion on their own; they just don't see why they would want this over DVD.

Had DIVX offered something new and innovative to the consumer, it might have worked. Unfortunately, this is just a simple repackaging of DVD (without the extra features) into a new marketing model that seeks only to extract more money from the consumer, while offering less value in return.

I just hope that the CC shareholders hold Mr. Richard Sharp accountable for this abomination.

Jeff

: : I'm not sure that I share a fondness of format wars. It would have been better to establish Beta than VHS. Adopting DAT, Mini-Disc, or even DCC (for gosh sakes!) would have been preferable to maintaining my reliance on analog cassettes. I also don't believe that consumers are particularly well served by having 18 ATSC formats. Offering 3-4 formats would have provided choice, but equipement would be less expensive for programmers and consumers. Compromise is often preferable to war...

: You're right; we were ripped off by VHS winning out. But the question is, who makes the decision? I don't want a system where some some arbitrary power (or even a mass of naysayers) gets the say. That's why we're living in a democracy.

: : I fully agree that some supporters of DVD have gone overboard in their arguments, but that's not gonna stop me from telling the truth about DIVX. It's not necessary or effective to resort to propaganda or hyperbole--the truth is so much more devestating. DIVX will ultimately kill itself because it's business model makes silly assumptions. Heck, one result of the swift death of DIVX will be your ability to choose between many vendors in your area for DVD rentals.

: Well may its demise come soon, then; if DVD or Divx must die (dubious), I'd OBVIOUSLY prefer open DVD to flourish. I have no fondness for Divx, just the idea of choice. As soon as DVD rentals approach the ubiquity of VHS, Divx will have lost its reason for existing.

: : Perhaps our founding fathers established something other than a "democratic capitalistic system". My copy of the constitution clearly establishes slavery as a legal institution.

: That's more an ignorance of racial equality rather than the establishment of a caste system. You'll recall that was amended.

: : Communism was bad, but was slavery any better? Communism would never have existed if capitalists had been more vigilant and given half a thought to the utility of some semblance of economic fairness. DIVX attempts to centralize the power to distribute our media products, and if successful would reduce our choice of vendors. That sounds far closer to repression than my objections to this greedy scheme.

: (We may be hanging by a thin thread to our topic, here!) First, democracy was a response to monarchy, and it in turn spawned its own responses, fascism and communism, merely illustrating that there is no perfect system but that the abuses and excesses of any system of government have undesired results.

: : Who are the opponents of DIVX repressing? CC? The Hollywood lawyers? Customers who are missing out on DIVX's technical or financial superiority? If opposing DIVX is repression, then every economic actor who influences business decisions is also a practitioner of repression.

: Perhaps OPpression (not REpression) was an overstatement, but I have found Divx-bashers to be hot-headed browbeaters if not oppressive (since that requires some real power), though that may be more a function of the forum (electronic) than of the speakers. The formation of larger, web-centered sales machines and the reduction of smaller vendors is nothing new, and furthermore is a reality we have little control over. With the low overhead of web sales and the immediacy of price comparisons enabled by the web, the traditional business model of a showroom with salesmen can't keep up, and many such stores are going belly-up, leaving us with fewer vendors. But if Divx reeks of oppression, then you might want to have a few words with Bill Gates, who knows a thing or two about true oppression.

: In any case, if one format must die out, I prefer DVD to win out; I'm just not certain that Divx must fail in order for DVD to succeed: witness the laserdisc phenomenon which maintained a strong minority following--despite the near-total domination by VHS--until DVD overtook it.

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