31 March 2006 - Blu-ray and HD DVD

As we, the consumers, gaze upon Blu-ray and HD DVD locked in a titanic struggle to increase risk and defer profit, we wonder: What is it all for? What point is there in fighting over who gets to be the next Betamax? Little do we realize that we have already been outmaneuvered, for the consumer electronics industry is crafty and farsighted, and the lesson of the printer-scanner-copier-fax-soap dispenser is lost. Before long, the player will take anything, even 8-track.