On Mon, 30 Sep 2002 18:50:52 John David Galt wrote: ... >Certainly. VHS tapes don't make "perfect" copies, but as a result they don't >bring with them unacceptable legal rules that force equipment to be built with >copy-protection and/or forced incompatibility with old hardware. >... There are actually two separate issues involved here. One deals with correct macroeconomic strategic business policies which took place in the classical "war" involving BETA and VHS. This one is evidently not metrication-related (even though one could learn something from it that could potentially help our cause).
But the second, which IS relevant for us to discuss, does involve a question of *attitude* when it comes to the development of standards in and by the US. This one has to do with how to go about developing them! It's VERY true what someone wrote here sometime ago. Unfortunately the US DOES have a tendency to invariably totally disregard the "technical" aspects of what impact these "standards" would have *beyond* their borders. Also they have this innate "behavior" of doing it without seeking the "cooperation" or without consultation with important international bodies responsible for the development of such standards that may potentially have global impact. Perhaps it's a legacy of its entrepreneurship spirit which made the US the powerhouse it is today. The significant flaw in this regard though is their failure to realize that economies are now a lot more intertwined than they would care to admit. Evidently a result of their own "imperialistic" policies around the world for economic "domination". I guess not even our "moderates" in this group would be able to disagree with this unfortunate assessment... Having said that, I feel it would be *vital/critical* that the American business establishment starts putting into practice "the latest" in bus ad theoretical "discoveries", before its image is tarnished forever in global markets. The above situation evidently gets aggravated by the very questionable foreign policies adopted by US' last administrations. So, in the end, what one will see is the continuing isolation of the US before the global community and an ever increasing bitterness from the rest of the world to "cooperate" with US initiatives in every sphere of action! In the end what this may cause is decisions to be made without much rationality, "in the heat of the moment", in "resent/vengeful" ways. The US loses and the rest of us also loses! The danger of this development is the alienation that trickles down to the public level which WILL (trust me!) very negatively impact consumers' preferences for products. I know this because it's already happening (and I'm a live example myself of it since I shun American products in general almost like the plague at times...). Therefore, in conclusion, one should not be surprised to hear testimonies like these being debated here. The US needs a significant shift in many areas of influence. I'm just sad to have to acknowledge that these will not be forthcoming anytime soon though. Our only recourse, as metricationists, is to at least individually put our money where our mouth is and NOT compromise EVER on developments that could put the US in a continuing position of leadership vis-a-vis imposing its own standards and values on others. 'nuff said... I'll go back to my usual "programming"... ;-) Marcus Is your boss reading your email? ....Probably Keep your messages private by using Lycos Mail. Sign up today at http://mail.lycos.com
